The EU Legal Migration Package

8 April 2011, 12.30-2pm

Progress and Perspectives on the regulation of Seasonal Workers and Intra-corporate transferees

In July last year, two legislative proposals were put forward by the European Commission, which addressed the temporary immigration of 'third country nationals' into the EU for purposes of employment. The first directive aims to unify rules for the conditions of entry and residence in the EU for low and unskilled seasonal workers. The second proposes a new scheme to facilitate the temporary transfer of skilled workers from a company located outside the EU to branches or subsidiaries in EU Member States. Both proposals form part of the EU's longstanding aim to develop a comprehensive immigration policy, and its recognition that facilitating legal migration of both skilled and unskilled workers is increasingly important for European economies. However, as the proposals also have a significant impact on labour markets and on the distribution of competencies between the Member States and the EU, they have also proven controversial.

This panel discussion will aim to present and discuss the proposed directives in detail, place them within their policy context, and weigh up arguments both in favour and against EU legislative involvement in this area.

Speakers:

• Claude Moraes, Labour MEP
• Professor Michelle Everson, School of Law, Birkbeck College
• Phillip Souta, Director, Business for New Europe
• Werner Buelen, Political Secretary Construction, European Federation of Building and Woodworkers

Chair: Dr Nicola Contouris, Faculty of Laws, UCL

The panel is co-organised by the UCL European Institute and the UCL Labour Rights Institute.

It is their contribution to UCL Migration Week - a series of lectures, panel discussions, conferences and exhibitions, which will explore migration from a number of academic perspectives. The week is co-organised by the UCL Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration and the UCL Grand Challenges programme.

Core part of the Week is a major interdisciplinary conference on Migration: Economic Change, Social Challenge, convened by Prof Christian Dustmann on behalf of the NORFACE Research Programme on Migration and the UCL Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).