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The European Union paves the way to workers from outside the bloc

The Union's territory has been for years an attractive place for foreigners. The issue was beneficial for all: the EU needs “new blood” and competences, the workers would acquire sufficient remuneration and knowledge of different cultures. Now the EU has decided to make some order in the flow of workforce, i.e. the Commission proposed a new directive with the aim of facilitating for European companies temporary transfer third-country national skilled workers outside the EU to branches or subsidiaries in the EU member states. These EU's efforts might be of interest to skilled workers and companies in Russia.

Already in the Policy Plan on Legal Migration adopted by the Commission in 2005, the Union's management institution outlined an initial proposal to develop further a common policy on legal migration of workforce. The plan scheduled the adoption of several legislative proposals on labour immigration in the period between 2007 and 2009. The efforts were quite successful and Commission proposed already in 2007 a draft of a directive on a single work- and residence- permit with the rights for migrants in the EU. The proposal is currently re-considered by the EU co-legislators for amendments.

Then, in May 2009, the Council adopted the so-called EU Blue Card directive on highly skilled migration. The two new legislative proposals on seasonal workers and persons transferred within their company complement this package of foreign workers.

In December 2009, the European Council in the “Stockholm programme” endorsed the 2005 Action Plan of the Commission and called for the adoption of an overall European policy on migrations, which has become since a EU primordial objective.

Presently, the EU-2020 Strategy considers that a well organised legal immigration policy will have a role to play not only in filling shortages of the labour markets and enhancing the EU global competitiveness but also will help to face demographic challenges which most of the EU-27 face or will face in the near future.

Commission's opinion

The Commission proposes to create a common set of rules for a new fast-track entry procedure (30 days time-limit, combined residence/work permit) for a targeted group of highly specialised staff (‘manager', ‘specialist' and ‘graduate trainee') from non-EU countries.

“We need a European approach on labour migration that allows our economies to receive the migrants they need. Multinational companies operating in Europe need access to the right people, with the right skills, at the right time, but such key personnel are not always available locally. The need for these companies to be able to temporarily transfer workers to and within the EU has become more crucial in recent years. These intra-corporate transferees bring with them specialist knowledge and skills to Europe, which in turn contributes to strengthening the European economy and attracting further investments in Member States”.

Cecilia Malmstrom, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs (Brussels, 13 July 2010).

Covering the workers' deficit

Intra-corporate transferees are a highly relevant category of workers for the EU economy: these workers are typically specialists and managers, possessing sought-after knowledge specific to the company, for whom no substitute could be easily found within the European Union countries.

The transfer of these qualified employees to the EU has the potential to increase investment flows, strengthen management effectiveness, expand EU exports, and enhance the competitiveness of EU entities in overseas markets as well as the competitiveness of the Union as a whole, which could help to achieve the objectives of the EU-2020 Strategy.

Existing barriers

However, barriers to such temporary migrations remain. Foe example, companies outside the EU are faced with a multitude of different rules and procedures when they want to send key staff to their subsidiaries within the different EU member states. In addition, procedures for getting work permits in some EU countries are slow and complex and intra-corporate transferees face difficulties in moving between the EU member states.

The new proposal also aims at establishing more attractive residence conditions for these staff and their families and an easier system for non-EU transferees to facilitate their mobility within the EU would follow.

This would be complemented by a clear legal status including the same working conditions as workers posted by an EU company.

EU Member States would remain competent to decide on numbers of transferees and provisions are foreseen to ensure the temporary feature of the migrations (for example, 3 years maximum for specialists and managers, 1 year for graduate trainees).

For more information, see:

Homepage of Cecilia Malmstrom, Commissioner for Home Affairs:

http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/malmstrom/welcome/default_en.htm

Justice and Home Affairs Newsroom:

http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/news/intro/news_intro_en.htm

Eugene ETERIS, European Correspondent, July 2010, Copenhagen

№9(47), 2010