On the 19th of November during the plenary session in Strasbourg the European Parliament discussed the Blue Card report (Rapporteur Ewa Klamt). The Blue Card, to many a sensitive issue, was proposed by the Commission in order to attract highly skilled workers from third countries to the EU. This in order to make the EU able to compete in “the battle of the brains”.

Highly skilled immigrants are needed in the EU in order to solve, amongst others, the aging population problem and to serve the innovation and competiveness in the EU’s knowledge based economy. The Blue Card is very sensitive, as it might lead, in developing countries especially, to increased brain drain in sectors such as the health care and education. Highly skilled workers are extremely important to the development of their countries of origin. If these much-needed highly educated workers leave their countries, they cannot contribute to the development of these countries, unless they return after a few years and share their experiences in their home countries.

Therefore, the EU Coherence Programme urges for circular migration. We have highlighted this issue during an expert meeting in June this year, which led to the inclusion of a provision on circular migration in the Development (DEVE) committee’s opinion on the Blue Card proposal. Also, European companies should back away from the active recruitment of personnel in sensitive sectors such as health and education. Furthermore, in DEVE’s opinion, Policy Coherence for Development is mentioned. On the one hand, the EU development policy is supporting public health in developing countries, but should the blue card under the EU’s migration policy be adopted, it threatens to undermine these development efforts, as the much-needed doctors in developing countries might choose to leave and try their luck in Europe.

On the 4^th of November, provisions highlighting the issues described above were proposed by MEPs Armando FranÇa (PSE) and Emine Bozkurt (PSE) in the LIBE committee. Unfortunately, not all of these provisions were sustained by the rest of the Committee members. Nevertheless, both of these MEPs received a coherence star for their efforts to address the policy incoherence resulting from the blue card proposal, for being concerned about the developing countries.

During the Development Days in Strasbourg, the EU Coherence Programme again drew attention to the issue by handing out fake Blue Cards to several MEPs, members of NGOs, visitors from developing countries, and EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel.

For more information see our case study on the Blue Card

Visit the website of MEP Emine Bozkurt

Visit the website of MEP Armando FranÇa