Labour market performance and migration flows - European ...

Chapter IIIEU Migration Policy towards Arab Mediterranean Countries and its Impact on their Labour Marketsrelating integration policies to employment and labour, examining immigration in the context ofdemographic ageing and skill shortages, and devising policies that take legal migration channels torespond to labour needs into consideration.Hence, in March 2000, the Lisbon European Council fixed full employment as a long-termobjective to foster EU economic growth. 126 The Lisbon agenda is thought to have devised a newapproach to the European social and economic agenda by confirming that jobs were a key elementto sustainable EU development and economic competitiveness. 127 In this framework, it becameevident that to maximize labour supply and reach these ambitious employment rate targets, theEuropean Employment strategy 128 should take into consideration the labour and economic featuresof immigration, and that these features should be considered as a strategy that could encourageskills and mobility. In its Communication on a Community Immigration Policy, in 2000 theEuropean Commission underlined that more attention should be given to the potential contributionsof third-country nationals in the EU labour market and that “channels for legal immigration to theUnion should now be made available for labour migrants.” 129 The Communication calledfurthermore for the detection sytem for any labour shortages, in both skilled and unskilled domains,that might hinder EU competitiveness on a global scale, and called for a new look at theappropriateness of past immigration policies, and for the development of a coherent communityimmigration policy.In December 2000, the Nice European Council, which launched the Social Agenda (2000-2006),stressed the issue of quality as a fundamental objective of European Employment Strategy, andcalled for more coherence across EU pillars and dialogue so as to address labour-marketchallenges. Moreover, in March 2002, the Barcelona European Council, which called for areinforcement of the EU Employment Strategy, fixed objectives targeting the promotion of skillsand mobility across the EU and called for the setting up of policies for full employment.125 It is however worth keeping in mind that one impetus which has prompted the development of a common European migration policy was the establishment of the freedom ofmovement of labour which goes back to the Treaty of Rome in 1957. In fact, the need for a consistent labour migration strategy at an EU-wide level is one of the pivotal points whichinspired the development of several legislative and policy-making measures so as to ensure and regulate labour force mobility. After the establishment of the European Union, priority wasgiven to policy-co-ordination at the European level and to the necessity of developing national employment policies that match European interests. Since then, EU’s socio-economic agendahas increasingly focused on the development of a community-based labour market.126 Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on a Community Immigration Policy, Brussels 22.11.2000, COM (2000) 757 final. For moreinformation, see the Employment Guidelines for 2001, http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/cha/c10240a.htm.127 For an account on the Lisbon agenda, see Edward Bannerman, “The Barcelona European Council”, Centre for European Reform, Policy Brief,http://www.cer.org.uk/pdf/pb_barcelona.pdf.128 The Luxembourg European Council in November 1997 launched the European Employment Strategy (EES), also known as 'the Luxembourg process' whose aim is to reform the EUeconomic agenda and meet challenges posed by the labour market’s needs and demands. The Lisbon strategy was a further step in this direction. The objectives fixed by this strategyrevolve around full employment, quality of work and productivity.129 Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European parliament on a community immigration policy, Brussels 22.11.200, COM (2000) 757 final, p. 3, available fromhttp://www.statewatch.org/docbin/com/30.00757.pdf.167