The Commission is trying to get easier residence permits and more protection for workers from third countries. That should make Europe more attractive.
The problem is well known: restaurants have to close because they can’t find any more employees, transport companies are desperate for drivers, and nursing homes are running out of caregivers. In Austria and many other EU countries, labor shortages are one of the biggest concerns of midsize companies, especially in the tourism, transport and energy sectors. The EU Commission is trying to counter this problem with a new proposal for legal migration – and to make the Union more interesting for skilled workers from third countries.
“We need a common concept for labor migration to cover the EU’s long-term qualification needs”, underlined vice-president Margaritis Schinas yesterday, Wednesday, at the presentation of the package in Brussels. This should make it easier to obtain long-term residence status in the EU in the future: Until now, migrants had to live in the same Member State for five years in order to obtain a residence permit. When you move to another EU country, time starts over. The Commission intends to accumulate periods of residence in different Member States and strengthen the rights of those affected by facilitating family reunification and mobility.
Furthermore, the Brussels authorities want work and residence permits to be issued using the same procedure – which would make the process easier for both applicants and employers. The application must be able to be made from third countries as well as from the EU. “Every year, two to three million third-country nationals legally enter the EU, in contrast to 125,000 to 200,000 who arrive irregularly. Legal migration is essential to recovering our economy and managing digital and green transitions,” said Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson. To make the European labor market more attractive, protection against exploitation must also be reduced. The work permit cannot be withdrawn if the employer changes or if the person concerned is temporarily unemployed.
More than five million refugees from Ukraine
With the package, the Commission also wants to take into account the fact that, since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression two months ago, more than five million people have fled from Ukraine to the EU: their integration into the labor market must be facilitated with the help of an EU-wide platform where those wishing to work can apply without bureaucracy. According to Brussels, this “pilot initiative” should start as early as next summer – a completely ambitious timetable. In the long term, a so-called pool of skilled workers should also attract workers from other third countries, who can thus get an idea of where their talent is in demand in the EU. Other “skilled worker partnerships” with Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt should take place by the end of the year. Here, too, special attention should be paid to the recruitment of skilled workers in sectors such as care and tourism, where the need is particularly high. At the same time, the EU Commission is likely to demand commitments from North African countries in the fight against unwanted migration.
The package presented yesterday also contains a proposal for the complete digitization of the issuance of short-stay visas in the Schengen area by 2025. To date, obtaining such a visa has been a complex process, as applicants have to go to the embassy person in person – who sometimes is not even located in their own country – has to travel. “It is high time the EU offered a fast, secure, web-based and above all modern EU visa application platform for citizens of 102 third countries who need a short-stay visa to be able to enter the EU”, demands Johansson.
The Commission’s proposals now have to be coordinated and approved by the Member States and the European Parliament.