MEPs completed today the legislative work on the EU digital COVID Certificate package to facilitate travel within the EU and contribute to the economic recovery.
MEPs take stock of developments and propose ways to improve the EC’s approach moving forward, with an eye set on the upcoming 2021 report on the rule of law in the EU.
Shortages in Europe’s labour market and its ageing population must be addressed
Set up an EU talent pool to match employers with prospective employees
An EU framework for legal migration would encourage more orderly migration, attract much-needed workers, undermine smugglers and traffickers, and ease integration.
In a report adopted with 495 to 163 and 32 abstentions, Parliament highlights that legal migration has barely been part of the EU’s migration policy since 2015 and underlines that the New Pact on Migration and Asylum does not include any specific proposals in this area.
“EU and national policy on legal migration should focus on responding to labour market and skills shortages”, MEPs argue, pointing to the ageing population and shrinking workforce. They demand that the legislation in place be reviewed and the scope made wider, as it currently covers mostly highly skilled or highly paid workers and multinational corporations, with only the seasonal workers d