Labour market performance and migration flows - European ...

Chapter IFinal Reportof Egypt, so far the magnitude of return migration in all other AMCs is marginal both relative to thesize of the workforce and to the size of migration flows in general. On the other hand, the invaluablepositive effects return migration has on labour markets in countries of origin and more generally intheir economic activity and even business climate, explains this interest and advocates for schemesto stimulate the return of migrants. In any case, a fundamental question is that of how to reach out tothe members of the diaspora and encourage them to return on a permanent or temporary basis, totransmit their skills.An interesting lesson, in this respect, is what happened in the Maghreb countries in the 1970s and1980s. The number of migrant returnees to Maghreb countries fell between 1970 and 1974, as France,main destination of Maghreb migrant workers at the time, prepared and then applied measures limitingimmigration. These measures produced exactly the contrary of the intended effect: they reduced returnsand contributed to stabilize immigrants in France. Through family reunification, they ended up causingan increase in the number of immigrants instead of a reduction. Return migration from Europe toMaghreb countries has been very weak ever since.6. EU Migration Policies and Arab Mediterranean Countries 33Labour market considerations have only recently been integrated as one of the maindeterminants of EU migration policies, and the consideration of the impact of those policieson labour markets and development prospects of countries of origin of migrants is even morerecent. The “Global Approach to Migration”, promoted by the European Union since 2005 34 ,could provide a solution to ensure not only that migration is a positive sum game, but also thatall actors in the migration process benefit: the non-migrants in the origin and host countries aswell as the migrants themselves. Indeed, the December 2006 European Council stressed theneed to give “consideration to how legal migration opportunities can be incorporated into theUnion’s external policies in order to develop a balanced partnership with third countriesadapted to specific EU Member States’ labour market needs”, and to explore “ways andmeans to facilitate circular and temporary migration”.These preliminary statements notwithstanding, it is important to get to grips with howcurrent political, institutional and legal elements in the Euro-Arab Mediterranean contextcould converge so as to define the premises and applicability of the Global Approachparadigm in the region. Indeed, the current economic crisis makes the concreteimplementation of the Global Approach to Migration more difficult, but at the same timemore necessary than before.As a starting point, it is worth noting that mobility trends induced by legislation, whichtend to constrain the migrant’s natural propensity to circulate freely, have to be revised in thelight of the new set of incentives they bring about. Hence, an assumption that has to be testedis whether promoting temporary migration, as the EU pretends to do, could mitigatespontaneous irregular migration, reduce brain drain and contribute to eliminating the rentiereconomy effect. Furthermore, more efforts should be invested in assessing whether and howinternational cooperation – in this case, EU relations with the AMCs in the framework of the33 This Chapter is based to a large extent on the Thematic Background Paper on EU Migration Policy Towards Arab Mediterranean Countries and its Impact on Their Labour Markets(Venturini, Fakhoury and Jouant 2009).34 On the necessity of developing a real “Global Approach to Migration”, see the European Council Conclusions of December 2005 and the appendix “ Global approach to migration andPriority Actions focusing on Africa and the Mediterranean”, http://register.consilium.eu.int/pdf/en/05/st15/st15744.en05.pdf. For a more developed approach see Presidency Conclusions ofthe Brussels European Council (14/15 December 2006) “A Comprehensive European Migration Policy”, and the Commission Communication “The Global Approach to Migration OneYear On: Towards a Comprehensive European Migration Policy” COM (2006)735.81