By: GZ on Giovedì 13 Settembre 2007 12:20
Frattini (forzaitalia) chiede alla UE di aprire le frontiere a 20 milioni di immigranti da asia ed africa
Ora che il 70% nei sondaggi lo disapprova c'era il rischio che il governo Prodi frenasse un attimo e allora arriva l'opposizione a dargli il cambio
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EU told to accept 20m migrant workers
By Andrew Bounds in Brussels
Europe must relax its immigration controls and open the door to an extra 20m workers during the next two decades, the European Union’s justice chief will say on Friday.
Franco Frattini, justice commissioner, is to tell the bloc’s immigration ministers in Lisbon that the EU should stop erecting barriers and instead build safe pathways for Africans and Asians who risk their lives heading to the continent to find a job.
“We have to look at immigration not as a threat but – when well-managed, and that is our new task – as an enrichment and as an inescapable phenomenon of today’s world,” he will say.
“Europe has to compete against Australia, Canada, the USA and the rising powers in Asia.” He will suggest the word immigration and its “dark side” should be dropped in favour of “mobility”.
While 85 per cent of unskilled labour goes to the EU and only five per cent to the US, some 55 per cent of skilled labour goes to the USA and only five per cent to the EU.
The Italian wants to reverse those figures by means of harmonised policies to allow in millions of extra workers of all abilities.
“All skill levels are required. The challenge is to attract the workers needed to fill specific gaps,” he will say. That runs counter to attempts by countries such as Britain to restrict access to prized skilled workers.
Germany, Italy and Hungary, with their ageing populations, are most in need of immigrants, he will say.
Next month Mr Frattini is to propose an EU “blue card” to compete with the US green card. Skilled