EU Labour Immigration Policy: Discourses and Mobility

Abstract

This article seeks to present the labour immigration policy developed at the European Union level since the entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty until the adoption of the first European law on labour immigration. The first part relates the European debates and discourses regarding the opening to new labour migration and it highlights the main steps of the policy debate at the European level. The European Commission discourse on labour migration is emphasised as well as the reactions of other actors, in particular the Member States. The second part examines the Council Directive on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purposes of highly qualified employment, also called the Blue Card Directive. This part highlights the features of the category of new labour migrants and points out the consequences of preferring temporary mobility. It also reviews other categories of workers such as seasonal workers and intra-corporate transferees. In the final section, the article questions the rationale of the on-going European Union discourse, the policy and its challenges. Despite new European Union discourse in favour of a certain kind of migrants; wanted migrants (skilled workers) are treated as nonwanted migrants.