EU Policies for Refugee Protection and Immigratin: Why We Need Productive Engagement with Our Neighbors, Not Border Fences

... EU member states can quickly create more legal immigration opportunities using existing policy tools to ensure that immigrants earn their own living rather than rely on the welfare state. Possible options include seasonal low-skilled employment opportunities, especially in agriculture; skill partnerships to train third-country citizens for professions that are in high demand in the EU (for example, in health care); and work visa schemes that rely on immigrants having an employment contract upon arrival, rather than formal vocational qualifications or language skills (as in the Western Balkans scheme in Germany, which is similarly politically motivated).In the EU, member states regulate labor market access by third-country citizens. Therefore, EU institutions would mainly aggregate member state offers for legal immigration and negotiate effective readmission agreements as part of wider-ranging partnerships. ...

Complete article