http://migration.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2007/06/17/helpwe-need-somebody/ The official Web log for Great Decisions 2007 Sat, 22 Nov 2008 17:00:51 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=wordpress-mu-1.0 http://migration.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2007/06/17/helpwe-need-somebody/#comment-366 Sun, 16 Sep 2007 23:36:18 +0000 http://migration.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2007/06/17/helpwe-need-somebody/#comment-366 [...] Again, looking at these proposals and the emphasis on flexibility, one cannot understand the public outcry these points drew in a number of Member States, particularly in Germany, where for weeks now, the lack of highly-skilled workers has been a key issue of debate. For all the far-sightedness of these suggestions, the fact that Frattini had to come out in a number of articles over the weekend not to correct anything he had said, but to re-emphasize points already made in his speech (on flexibility; on Member State responsibilities and sovereignty in admitting migrants; on how immigration is not the only solution to demographic change, etc.) simply highlights the key pitfall of European policy making. [...] […] Again, looking at these proposals and the emphasis on flexibility, one cannot understand the public outcry these points drew in a number of Member States, particularly in Germany, where for weeks now, the lack of highly-skilled workers has been a key issue of debate. For all the far-sightedness of these suggestions, the fact that Frattini had to come out in a number of articles over the weekend not to correct anything he had said, but to re-emphasize points already made in his speech (on flexibility; on Member State responsibilities and sovereignty in admitting migrants; on how immigration is not the only solution to demographic change, etc.) simply highlights the key pitfall of European policy making. […]

]]> http://migration.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2007/06/17/helpwe-need-somebody/#comment-191 Sun, 26 Aug 2007 20:08:01 +0000 http://migration.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2007/06/17/helpwe-need-somebody/#comment-191 [...] As we recently reported, a number of trade unions in Germany have been putting pressure on the government to ease up on labor mobility restrictions to allow qualified personnel to fill currently existing gaps in the labor economy. Following the European Union’s 2004 enlargement wave, the German government (along with a number of others) had insisted on a ban on workers from Eastern Europe moving to Germany, in part because of the high unemployment rate. The government has reconsidered this earlier decision, perhaps in part due to rising public pressure, but largely, because of economic necessity, as Judy Dempey reports in the New York Times. [...] […] As we recently reported, a number of trade unions in Germany have been putting pressure on the government to ease up on labor mobility restrictions to allow qualified personnel to fill currently existing gaps in the labor economy. Following the European Union’s 2004 enlargement wave, the German government (along with a number of others) had insisted on a ban on workers from Eastern Europe moving to Germany, in part because of the high unemployment rate. The government has reconsidered this earlier decision, perhaps in part due to rising public pressure, but largely, because of economic necessity, as Judy Dempey reports in the New York Times. […]

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