BRUSSELS LAUNCHES EU IMMIGRATION DEBATE

Controversial EU proposals to allow legal immigration into Europe are set to cause contention in national capitals.

Tuesday's proposal from the European Commission aims for a common EU approach towards “useful” immigrants – those who fill certain gaps in expertise and labour shortages.

The paper suggesting “an EU approach to managing economic migration” plans to launch a discussion amongst policy makers on how best to tackle economic migration of third country nationals into the EU’s borders.

European justice commissioner Franco Frattini is seeking to spark a debate, conscious of the controversy that the proposals will provoke.

"The time has come for choosing a bottom-up rather than top-down approach and to first hear the views of all relevant actors involved,” he said.

“I am fully aware that member states, European Parliament, trade unions, employers and other stakeholders have different points of view on this issue as well as different needs.”

Previous attempts to implement EU wide measures allowing migration, rather than existing measures to tackle illegal immigration, have been blocked by member states.

Countries, such as Germany, insist that the decision to allow migrations must remain the prerogative of national governments.

Brussels notes that if immigration levels remain the same, between 2010 and 2030, the decline in the EU’s working age population will lead to a shortfall of 20 million workers.

"While immigration in itself is not a solution to demographic ageing, more sustained immigration flows could increasingly be required to meet the needs of the EU labour market and ensure Europe’s prosperity,” argues the 'green paper'.

The commission will hold a public hearing on the proposals in July 2005 and a policy plan on legal migration is set for the end of this year