Annexes to COM(2018)635 - Enhancing legal pathways to Europe (migration policy) - Contribution to the Leaders’ meeting, September 2018 - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2018)635 - Enhancing legal pathways to Europe (migration policy) - Contribution to the Leaders’ meeting, September 2018. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2018)635  |
| date | September 12, 2018 |
2.2 Resettlement
Resettlement of third-country nationals or stateless persons is an important humanitarian avenue that can be offered to displaced persons in need of international protection to allow them to enter the European Union legally and safely. It is an integral part of the wider objective of ensuring that protection can be offered to those in need through safe and legal channels instead of by taking irregular and dangerous journeys. Those safe and legal channels also undermine the business model of smuggling networks and contribute to the reduction of irregular migration. Resettlement is also a tool of international solidarity and responsibility sharing with third countries to which large numbers of persons in need of international protection have been displaced.
EU resettlement initiatives taken collectively with Member States over the past few years have yielded good results and contributed to strengthening the Union’s partnerships and solidarity with third countries. Since 2015, the EU resettlement programmes have helped 38 000 of the
to around 28,500 permits issued under national schemes for highly skilled workers. Overall, the number of
most vulnerable find shelter in the EU. Moreover, Member States made the largest commitment on resettlement the EU has ever seen through the new resettlement scheme put in place at the EU level in September 2017. This will benefit more than 50 000 people, and is supported by EUR 500 million from the EU budget. The first eight months in the implementation of the scheme have shown good results, with over 13 200 persons already resettled from priority regions. It is important to continue and further reinforce Member States political commitments and turn them swiftly into reality.
In parallel, a structured EU framework for resettlement should be put in place. That is why, as part of the overall reform of the Common European Asylum System, in July 2016 the Commission proposed a Union Resettlement Framework Regulation. This would for the first time put in place a permanent framework to pool European resettlement efforts more systematically and facilitate delivery of resettle ment commitments, based on common standards. It is essential that negotiations be concluded swiftly by the European Parliament and the Council so that this instrument can be adopted soon.
Resettlement efforts can be further enhanced by the development of other legal pathways. In this respect, private sponsorship schemes in particular could complem ent the existing safe channels for admission to the EU of those in need of international protection and ensure better social integration. The outcome of a study on the feasibility of such schemes confirms that they can contribute to meeting the goal of promoting safe and legal channels of admission, while actively involving civil society and local communities and thus increasing the public engagement in the area of international protection and integration. Moreover, private sponsorship also has the potential to facilitate the integration of beneficiaries by providing additional resources at individual and community level.
The Commission will consider ways in which Member States could be best supported in establishing and/or expanding private sponsorship schemes. This could be achieved, for example, by promoting soft measures such as training programmes, capacity building, toolkits and operational guidance, and peer-learni ng activities and/or by targeted funding possibilities.
• The Commission calls on Member States to step up their efforts to implement the 50 000 pledges under the current EU resettle ment scheme.
• Following the significant progress that has been achieved in the trilogue discussions with the European Parliament and the Council, these discussions need now to be concluded and the Union Resettlement Framework Regulation should be swiftly adopted.__________________________
2.3 Cooperation with third countries
Legal pathways are equally an im portant element for the EU to strengthen its cooperation with third countries and they should contribute to a coordinated, holistic and structured approach to migration, maximising the synergies and applying the necessary incentives and leverages. Acting jointly, the EU can have a stronger position vis-à-vis third countries in cooperation on migration management. In line with the Partnership Framework approach developed by the EU in the past years, legal migration should be fully integrated into the EU external dimension. Enhanced and tailored cooperation on legal migration with third countries of origin and transit of migrants will help reduce irregular migration by offering safe and legal alternatives for persons wishing to migrate; it will contribute to bridging gaps in certain sectors of Member
States’ labour markets; and will be an incentive to facilitate cooperation on issues such as
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prevention of irregular migration, readmission and return of irregular migrants. Enhancing legal pathways is also an important complement to the Commission Communication on a new Africa-Europe Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs: taking our partnership for investment and jobs to the next level.15
In this context in the last few years, the EU has actively promoted the legal migration components of the external migration policy complementing its broader external and development engagement. This has been in particular with - but not limited to - African countries: first in the context of the Joint Valletta Action Plan16 and, more recently, by coordinating the development by Member States of pilot projects with selected African countries, promoting legal migration schemes for labour or traineeship purposes, with EU financial support. However, there have been challenges in this process, mainly due to Member States' reticence to fully implement the agreed concept and launch concrete projects.
The link between migration and mobility policies, on the one hand, and trade policies, on the other hand, is also important, particularly in the services sector, whereby individuals invest and provide services on the other party’s territory. Facilitating their mobility is key to reaching meaningful trade deals with third-countries in the area of services, based on reciprocity, where the EU increasingly has a competitive advantage.
The Commission will continue to strengthen synergies between these different policies, in particular regarding service providers, by both facilitating the issuance of short-stay and long-stay visas.
The Commission calls upon Member States to fully engage and cooperate on developing pilot projects on legal migration with specific African countries, as well as with other third-countries in the future, with the aim of launching the first projects by the end of the year. The Commission will continue to support Member States in this endeavour, through funding and practical coordination, as an important incentive for cooperation on overall migration management, including on return and readmission.
2.4 Integration
Finally, better migration management can only be achieved if the EU and its Member States also enhance efforts on the integration of third-country nationals staying legally in the EU, engaging all relevant levels of government and civil society. In the proposed Multiannual Financial Framework, the Commission aims to increase financial support for integration measures and to strengthen the involvement of a number of stakeholders including economic and social actors at all levels.
Whilst responsibility for integration lies primarily with the Member States, in the 2016 Action Plan on Integration the EU included measures to support Member States in further developing and implementing effective actions, across all relevant policy areas, to improve integration17. The implementation of the EU Action Plan on Integration has already delivered results on many fronts. For instance, the Commission has launched concrete initiatives to specifically promote labour market integration, involving employers as well as economic and social partners.
In particular, in May 2017, the Commission launched the 'Employers for integration' initiative to promote employers’ efforts aimed at fostering integration of third-country nationals in the
15 COM(2018) 643 final.
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labour market18. The Commission has also established a European Partnership for Integration with social and economic partners at European level to work more closely together to promote a faster and more effective integration of refugees in the European labour market . In addition, there is increased support to local and regional authorities, in particular, through the Urban Agenda Partnership on the Inclusion of Migrants and Refugees. In this context, a successful pilot on the Urban Academy on integration was launched in April this year to train local practitioners on a number of integration aspects and policies at local level. Finally, additional financial support has been recently made available to further support concrete actions by the Member States in this area. The Commission has also launched a Skills Profile Tool20 to support Member States in the early profiling of skills and qualifications of non-EU nationals, which helps identify individuals specific needs for integration in the labour market and simplify the process of matching job-seekers to vacancies.
Integration remains crucial to ensure social cohesion as well as economic performance, by promoting and respecting the EU fundamental values, and by avoiding that skills and competences are wasted or under-used. In this regard, eliminating the current employment gap between third - country nationals and EU nationals could improve fiscal balances in several Member States21.
The Commission calls upon Member States to continue investing in integration policies targeting all legally staying migrants, with increased, better targeted and more coordinated EU financial support as proposed in the next Multiannua Financial Framework, which needs to be adopted swiftly, as well as with the involvement of all relevant stakeholders at all levels, including economic and social actors.
3. WAY FORWARD
A comprehensive approach to migration is essential for replacing irregular and unsafe pathways with legal, orderly and safe channels for those in need of protection and attractive and efficient channels for those needed on our labour markets. The EU needs to act swiftly, effectively and collectively to make this a reality. The Commission is committed to fully play its part in the implementation of this comprehensive approach.
The Commission calls in particular on the Council and the Member States to deliver on three key elements to enhance legal pathways in the short term:
• Agree on a position that achieves an attractive and efficient EU Blue Card scheme;
• Deliver on the 50 000 resettlement pledges and agree on the Union Resettlement Framework;
• Swiftly develop and launch pilot projects on legal migration with countries from Africa and other partner countries which show a commitment to partnership in migration management, including in relation to readmission of irregular migrants.
In addition, the Commission calls upon the European Parliament and the Council to adopt the reformed Blue Card Directive and the Union Resettlement Framework before the European Parliament elections of 2019.
https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/legal-migration/european-dialogue-skills-and-migration/integration-pact en
https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/e-library/documents/policies/legal-migration/integration/docs/20171220 european partnership for integration en.pdf
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Looking further ahead, work also needs to continue on fully modernising and adapting the EU's legal migration policy to the current and future needs of the European Union. To that end, the Commission will launch a high-level consultation process with all stakeholders based on the findings of the "fitness check".