Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

INTRODUCTION TO THE EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

The Directive 2011/98/EU on a single application procedure for a Single Permit is an important instrument to regulate legal migration. Legal migration is the best instrument to combat irregular immigration and, therefore, it is positive and necessary. Demographic trends clearly show that the European Union’s population is shrinking and aging rapidly. This phenomenon is creating across our societies an increasing difficulty in finding workers in different sectors of activity and employment. The Covid pandemic has only made this trend more evident. Many employment sectors depend on the presence and availability of migrant workers and this dependence is particularly noticeable in frontline services.

At the same time, millions of people around the world are trying to build a better future for themselves and their families by migrating to other countries, and contributing with their talents and work to the development and prosperity of the societies in which they have chosen to live. Only few of them - one on five - arrive in Europe.

Unfortunately, Member States have not been able to build at EU level a coherent labour migration policy that facilitates the arrival of migrant workers and their full integration into our societies. Therefore, the result is a patchwork of different tools specific to different types of workers - the Blue Card Directive, the Seasonal Workers Directive, the Intra-Corporate Transfer Directive, the Single Permit Directive, the Students and Researchers Directive and the LongTerm Residents Directive. This renders the system as a whole unintelligible.

As pointed out by the Commission, in its Communication “Attracting skills and talent to the EU”, the European Union must be able to provide more opportunities for legal migration and mobility to the EU. Our economies need to attract new low and medium skilled thirdcountry national workers, with a common harmonized European framework matching people, skills and labour market needs. Such migration is not only a way of addressing the drive of the many thousands of people who seek a better and more prosperous life, who want to contribute with their talent to the well-being of our societies and who cannot find legal ways to reach Europe. It is also a way of addressing the needs of our economies and our companies that have an interest in having skilled workers and in finding solutions to the shortage of workers on the labour market.

This is why, as indicated several times by the European Parliament, and recently with the initiative reports on “New avenues for labour legal migration”, it is important to proceed rapidly with a review and harmonization of the existing legislative instruments, as we have done with the revision of the Blue Card Directive.

DETAILED PROVISIONS OF THE EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

The Rapporteur’s main objective is to make the procedure for obtaining a single permit as simple and quick as possible, so that it can become a useful tool for thirdcountry nationals seeking to come to the EU to work, and for our EU companies, big and small, to find the workers they need. It should allow for a swift response to the needs of the labour market and help strengthen legal channels for arriving in Europe for the purpose of work. An improved framework for managing low and medium skilled migration for employment purposes should have a positive impact on economic growth and, specifically, in filling labour shortages, by creating a greater pool of labour to meet labour market needs.

Secondly, it is essential to provide third-country workers equal treatment with other workers, guaranteeing them and their families social rights that protect them from labour exploitation, while at the same time facilitating their full integration into our societies. The introduction of measures to fight labour exploitation of third-country workers, as well as the reinforcement of their rights should improve the social status of third-country workers as valued members of our societies, therefore contributing to their integration and social inclusion. A fairer treatment of third-country workers in the workplace should also have a positive impact on national workers, as it should help combat the risk of ‘social dumping’.

The Commission's proposal, while representing a good starting point, must be improved. We need to be more ambitious. In the 21st century, it is not credible that we cannot process an application for a single permit within 90 days. This period should be a maximum, in line with the time limits provided for in other directives. This time limit must include all the steps of the process, including the issuance of the visa, as already proposed by the Commission, but also any other verification of the situation of the labour market and, where necessary, of the skills of the worker. Simpler and faster procedures lead to time and cost savings for national administrations and employers, and provide increased legal certainty for third-country nationals seeking to come to Europe to work.

The costs of obtaining the single permit must be reduced to the minimum necessary, to prevent costs from representing a drawback for workers and employers.

It is also important to empower third-country national workers, by treating them as rights bearers and thus by providing them with the possibility to change employer, making this procedure simpler and faster. Such a possibility will mean that the third-country worker will be less dependent on a single employer and this should greatly reduce the risks of exploitation and abuse.

Moreover, in the event of loss of employment, the worker must be entitled to remain on the territory for a long enough period of time so that he/she can find a new job and thus continue to benefit from the right to stay in the Member State. In this respect, the Commission's proposal does not adequately reflect the dynamics of the labour market and exposes the worker to a permanently precarious working life, and exposes the labour market to unnecessary churn and the loss on the investment made in his/her professional development.

The rights and guarantees of equal treatment, provided for in the Directive, must be as close as possible to the conditions granted to national or EU workers without limitations and exceptions, in order to make those rights and guarantees effective. The Rapporteur’s aim is to grant all third-country workers improved equal treatment and opportunities, in all main areas of life: work, education and training, social protection, access to goods and services, including housing, and increased protection from potentially severe abuses and exploitation, to allow them to maximise their contribution to our societies while maximising their opportunities in life.

Finally, in order to reinforce and promote the Single Permit scheme, it is important that Member States and the Commission will strengthen advertisement activities and information campaigns concerning the Single Permit, in particular towards third countries.