The European Commission today opened a public hearing on economic migration, as a direct follow-up to the Green Paper on an EU approach to managing economic migration, presented by  the Commission presented in January.

The Commission said today that the hearing is based on a bottom-up rather than top down approach. This approach aims to bring together the main stakeholders in this debate, notably trade unions, employers organisations, governments, European Parliament and European Economic and Social Committee, non-governmental organisations, and interested third-countries.

Vice-President Franco Frattini, Commissioner responsible for Justice, Freedom and Security said at the opening: “Now that Member States have realised the trans-national dimension of economic migration and seem willing to work out a European approach to this phenomenon, I feel it is the right moment to hold such a debate in a rational and comprehensive way”.

Commissioner Vladimir Spidla, responsible for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities stressed the importance of today’s hearing as: “Economic migration is a reality and with a view to the demographic changes in Europe also a necessity. Successful integration of today’s migrants is the key to a well-managed future strategy.”

With the Green Paper, the Commission launched a debate with a wide range of stakeholders on which rules should be proposed and adopted at EU level concerning the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for economic reasons. In the Green Paper the Commission also asked for written contributions by the relevant stakeholders. So far it has received more than 120 written contributions from Member States, NGOs, regional authorities, social partners and academia.

The Commission said that today’s Hearing will serve to raise the main issues at stake, in particular the following three topics which will be dealt with in subsequent panels:

(1)     The degree of harmonisation the EU should aim at.

(2)     The admission procedures for paid employment and for self-employment.

(3)     The rights of admitted third-country workers and accompanying measures such as integration requirements, return issues and the cooperation with interested third countries.