Source: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/eu-visa-application-approved-document-applying-2118956066
By Amy Weatherburn
Labour migration in the EU: legislative developments
The most recent legislative developments under the auspices of the European Skills Agenda have focused upon developing sustainable EU policy on legal migration by simplifying migration procedures and improving migrant workers’ rights. Two main pieces of EU legislation that set out the framework for procedures and rights of legally residing third-country nationals have been put under the spotlight: the Long-Term Residents Directive 2003/109/EC and the Single Permit Directive 2011/98/EU (hereinafter the Single Permit Directive). In this post, we will discuss the legislative journey (to date) of the recast Single Permit Directive with a view to determining to what extent it offers migrant workers a simplified, rights-based procedure that grants fair and equal access to the EU labour market - also addressed here in an op-ed by the Platform for Undocumented Migrants (PICUM).More...
Third country cooperation in the EU New Pact on Migration and Asylum
By Annick Pijnenburg and Lynn Hillary
One of the aims of the EU New Pact on Migration and Asylum (hereafter: Pact) is to reduce unsafe and irregular migration routes. In that respect, the European Commission rightly notes that the internal and external dimension of migration are inextricably linked. It is therefore unsurprising that cooperation with third countries forms an important element of the new proposals that constitute the Pact. Section 6 of the Commission’s Communication, which is titled ‘Working with our international partners’, covers almost a third of the total document. Indeed, while the Pact is a compromise regarding the Common European Asylum System (hereafter: CEAS), i.e. the internal dimension of migration, this is not completely true for the Pact’s elements on cooperation with third countries, and externalisation more generally. Here, the Member States of the EU seem to be very much in unison. It has been argued this is the case because external migration management is focused on deterrence, thereby decreasing the number of migrants that any Member State is responsible for. In other words, if the CEAS were a well-functioning system, there would be no need to rely as heavily on externalisation as is the case in the current proposals.
Returns in core of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum and the leading role of Frontex
By Mariana Gkliati
Credit: Jonathan Stutz/ Fotolia, European Parliamentary Research Service Blog
In September 2020, the European Commission presented the new European Union (EU) Pact on Migration and Asylum. This following reflects what we can expect to see in the coming years with respect to returns and the role of Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (EBCG). In the New Pact on Migration and Asylum, the Commission reaffirms returns as one of the main priorities of migration management. The proposed initiatives aim at further efficiency and intensification of returns with Frontex playing an ever more active role in this field.
Blog series: EU New Pact on Migration and Asylum
Introductory blog
By Lynn Hillary
Credits: By EmDee - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
Dear reader of Human Rights Here,
In September 2020, the European Commission unveiled the New Pact on Migration and Asylum, a series of long-awaited measures to reform the EU migration regime. On November 23rd the Migration & Borders Working Group of the NNHRR gathered with migration scholars of Tilburg University to discuss several aspects of the EU New Pact.
The pact aims to ‘rebuild trust between Member States and to restore citizens' confidence in our capacity to manage migration as a Union.’ Commission President von der Leyen also stressed that ‘[i]t is now time to rise to the challenge to manage migration jointly, with the right balance between solidarity and responsibility.’
More...