Legalise labour migration to reduce irregular migration?
Time: 18th June 2018, 12h30 – 15h30
Venue: the Hanse-Office, Avenue Palmerston 20, 1000 Brussels.
In view of the disastrous situation of migrants in Libya, the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker reiterated in November 2017 his call for legal ways for migrants to Europe as it would clearly need immigration in the coming decades. Labour migration policies have so far largely focused on the highly skilled. In order to be an effective instrument to counter irregular migration, they would have to be more aligned to the qualifications of this group – vocationally-trained and unskilled people. The demand for people with vocational training rises in Germany and other EU countries, as demographic change begins to play out in labour intensive sectors such as health care. In its Annual Report 2018 “Steering What Can Be Steered: What Can Immigration and Integration Laws Do?”, the SVR gives recommendations to facilitate immigration for vocationally-trained workers within the framework of German immigration legislation.
Taking these ideas of the SVR as a starting point, this event aims at stimulating a dialogue with representatives of the EU institutions, the Member States and other key stakeholders on the future shape of EU labour migration policies. The exchange will focus on the relationship between national and European legislation, and the capacity of labour migration policies to contribute to a reduction of illegal migration. To start off the discussion, Professor Daniel Thym, co-author of the SVR’s Annual Report 2018, will present the proposals of the SVR.
Participation requests: events@hanse-office.de by 12th June 2018 at the latest.
Programme
12h30:
Lunch reception
13h00:
Welcome and introduction State Secretary Jan Pörksen, Ministry for Labour, Social and Family Affairs and Integration, Hamburg
Steering what can be steered: What can immigration laws do? Presentation of the core messages of SVR’s Annual Report 2018, Professor Daniel Thym, University of Konstanz and SVR
A view from the Commission, Lieven Brouwers, European Commission, DG HOME, Dir. B.1. Legal Migration and Integration
Labour migration options as functional equivalent for congested asylum systems, Elizabeth Collett, Director, Migration Policy Institute
Steering of labour migration in France, Matthieu Tardis, Research Fellow, Centre for Migration and Citizenship, French Institute of International Relations (IFRI)
14h20 :
Legalise labour migration to reduce irregular migration? Panel discussion with
State Secretary Jan Pörksen
Professor Daniel Thym
Lieven Brouwers
Elizabeth Collett
Matthieu Tardis
Discussion with the audience
15h15:
Networking coffee