Raül Romeva i Rueda

Em trobo a Lisboa, on ens hem reunit l’Assemblea interparlamentària Euromediterrània per tractar diversos assumptes sobre la joventut, els moviments migratoris i les relacions interculturals entre els diferents països que formen l’Assemblea. Hi he presentat l’informe que hem preparat amb el meu col·lega jordà, Alzyoud (els informes sempre compten amb dos ponents, de la riba nord i sud) relatiu a les migracions, l’ocupació i la integració.

Committee on improving quality of life, exchanges between civil societies and culture

January 2012

DRAFT RECOMMENDATION

Migration, employment and integration

Rapporteurs:      Mr. Alzyoud (Jordan), Mr Romeva i Rueda (EP)

The Committee on improving quality of life, exchanges between civil societies and culture of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean,

–           Whereas the mobility is a key component of the new neighbourhood strategy and the EU revised policy in response to the Arab Spring should fully support the democratisation process by providing not only humanitarian support but also assistance for political, social, economic and cultural reforms;

–           Whereas political, social and economic instability, lack of security, political repression and authoritarian regimes are the major driving forces behind migration, depriving affected communities of viable local prospects and income and, hence, of the right to choose whether to migrate or not, putting their lives at constant risk and leaving them with migration as their only option; whereas climate change and environmental degradation are becoming an increasingly common cause of migration;

–           Whereas migration has contributed to the exchange of ideas, but has also entailed challenges in terms of the integration of immigrants into host societies, thus giving rise to both the cultural and economic enrichment of the whole Euro-Mediterranean region and issues of social inclusion and adaptation;

–           Whereas slower population growth in the European Union will create shortages in the labour market while demographic trends in the Southern Mediterranean is a challenge for the region as a whole,

–           Whereas, in the context of an enhanced Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, co-operation on Migration policy between Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) countries should be given fresh impetus after the historic events that have occurred in the Southern Mediterranean since the end of 2010,

–           Whereas the effects of the economic and financial crisis have come on top of the existing political and social challenges in the Euro-Mediterranean region, particularly in relation to the problem of unemployment;

–           Whereas it is in the common interest of Southern Mediterranean countries and the EU to bring down unemployment rates in the region and to offer its people, particularly young people, hope for the future while at the same time mitigating the brain-drain in the migrants’ countries,

–           Whereas no EU Member State has ratified the UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families to date; whereas this Convention is the most broadly-based international legal framework for the protection of the rights of migrant workers and their families and gives States guidance as to the approach to be adopted to ensure that migrants’ rights are respected when policies relating to the migration of labour are drawn up and implemented;

–           Whereas a more coordinated and comprehensive approach to migration management can enhance respect for the dignity of all migrants who can potentially contribute to meeting labour needs in countries of transit and destination and boost development in countries of origin;

1. Reaffirms that the Euro-Mediterranean partnership aims to bring the two shores of the Mediterranean closer together with a view to establishing an area of peace, democracy, security and prosperity, and to provide the EU and its partners with an effective bilateral and multilateral framework enabling them to overcome democratic, social and economic challenges, to promote regional integration and to ensure their co-development for the benefit of all;
2. Recalls, in this context, that mobility and people-to-people contacts are fundamental to promoting mutual understanding and economic development, as they are indispensable for trade as for exchanging ideas, spreading innovation and tackling employment and social issues;
3. Calls for the development of instruments to establish a common Euro-Mediterranean immigration policy with a view to promoting economic and social progress and employment in receiving, transit and origin countries, and to enhance social cohesion by improving the integration of migrants;
4. Takes the view that it is essential, as part of a coherent long-term strategy, to analyse the deep-rooted causes of migration flows in order to arrive at more appropriate responses in relation to the right to mobility;
5. Recalls that well-managed legal migration brings benefits to EU countries through their economic contribution and to third countries through the funds which immigrants remit to their countries of origin; furthermore, stresses the importance of supporting initiatives designed to promote the involvement of migrants in development and training projects in their countries of origin and of reception;
6. Stresses that given the importance of “South-South” migration, notably transit migration from Africa, the issue under consideration (“Migration, employment and integration”) should not be seen only through a “North-South” prism; believes in this context that most of the following recommendations shall be endorsed and implemented by all UfM countries; calls in this regard on all UfM countries and the EU to ratify the UN Migrant Workers Convention;
7. Stresses that labour mobility is an area where the EU and its neighbours can complement each other, as the EU’s workforce is ageing and labour shortages will develop in specific areas, while EU’s southern neighbours have well-educated, young and talented workers who can fill these gaps;
8. Recalls the importance to establish a common Euro-Mediterranean policy to manage South-North migratory flows, including transit flows affecting North African countries, as proposed by its recommendation on “Immigration and integration : building a culture of peace by means of dialogue between generations” approved on 4 March 2011 in Rome;
9. Considers that support for politically unstable and economically weaker states, as a likely source of irregular migration and security, should always include, in addition to budgetary relief and support and strategies to establish or consolidate stability, direct investment and market-access strategies, rural development and food security strategies, Millenium Development Goals (MDG) support, job-creation policies, infrastructure development, support for SMEs, microcredit facilities and strategies geared to promoting democratisation and good governance, social inclusion, the empowerment of women and minority or disadvantaged groups and ethnic and religious tolerance;
10. Welcomes the Communication from the European Commission on a “dialogue for migration, mobility and security with the Southern Mediterranean countries” (COM (2011) 292 final, 24.052011); recalls in this context that the Mobility partnerships proposed therein should not be steered primarily by security concerns;
11. Strongly supports the “partnership with societies” approach and thus calls on the Commission and the Vice-President/High Representative together with UfM countries to develop mechanisms to ensure its full application, in particular by setting up a mechanism involving civil society in the definition of objectives and benchmarks and in the implementation and monitoring of all agreements with partners, by maintaining a transparent dialogue on Justice and Home affairs matters with democratically elected authorities and national parliaments, and by enhancing the parliamentary democratic scrutiny of all mechanisms, dialogues and agreements on migration;
12. Calls on UfM to set up a structured dialogue between EU institutions and third country authorities in order to develop a win-win approach to mobility, to ease visa formalities, to make greater use of the opportunities offered by the EU Visa Code and progress towards visa liberalisation and to evaluate the existing mobility partnerships, focusing in particular on the effects of the interdependence between development aid, security, regular migration and irregular migration as defined in the Global Approach to Migration;
13. Advocates in this respect the adoption of a Euro-Mediterranean Partnership for Mobility which provides the conditions which guarantee the right to free movement between the two shores;
14. Believes that the EU should advance its work on visa facilitation in the utmost transparency with a view to moving gradually to a visa-free regime; urges the Commission to ensure that any readmission agreement signed by the EU and its Member States fully respects human rights and the principle of ‘non-refoulement’ and does not put at risk any persons in need of international protection and calls on the EU to make every effort to facilitate the development of an accessible, fair and protective EU asylum system; calls on the Commission and the Council to implement the recommendations made in the Commission evaluation of the EU readmission agreements which has been issued on 23 February 2011;
15. Stresses in this respect that youth and student mobility should be treated as a priority to help combat youth unemployment to the Southern Mediterranean and facilitate integration in the EU labour markets; emphasises the need to enhance synergies between “Youth on the Move” and the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP);
16. Stresses that the EU should increase cooperation in the field of academic education and vocational training, immediately broadening and increasing scholarship programmes and mobility of students, graduates, teachers and academics by promoting exchanges between higher education and training institutions, along with public-private partnerships in the field of research and enterprises; considers it essential to develop more flexible, accelerated procedures for issuing visas to participants in such programmes;
17. Emphasises the need to advance the work on mutual recognition of qualifications and education systems with ENP partner countries especially on the approximation of Higher Education Diplomas and standards to the European Higher Education Area; stresses the strong need for a structured information policy towards the citizens of the ENP partners concerning the possibility of participation in EU programmes;
18. Calls on the European Commission to take over the European Parliament’s proposal to establish a Euro-Mediterranean Erasmus programme (students’ exchange) and a Euro-Mediterranean Leonardo-da-Vinci programme (vocational training);
19. Calls on the EU to enhance the accessibility and channelling of EU funds into projects aimed at informing migrants of their rights and responsibilities and at protecting their rights, with particular reference to the rights of unaccompanied minors, women and other vulnerable groups; asks the Commission therefore to provide Parliament with a detailed report on the use of EU funds earmarked for neighbouring countries, including under the Commission’s thematic programme for cooperation with third countries in the areas of migration and asylum;
20. Calls on the EU to implement the Directives on third country seasonal workers and intra-corporate transferees to enhance mobility to the EU;
21. Invites UfM countries to engage in a mutually beneficial process of opening of their labour markets; invites them to include provisions on the free movement of services in free trade agreements within the region;
22. Calls on the UfM to make further efforts with regard to the development and democratisation of countries of origin and to promote the rule of law, in order to tackle the problems associated with migration at their root;
23. Encourages the establishment of migration information and management centres in order to help third countries of origin or transit to define a migration policy in response to the concerns of potential migrants and returning migrants, offer guidance on legal immigration, job opportunities and living conditions in countries of destination, and help with job training for would-be migrants; stresses at the same time that this support should not aim at preventing would-be migrants to achieve their projects in compliance with the right to leave one’s country;
24. Calls on UfM countries to make a concerted effort to combat all types of discrimination suffered by migrants; emphasises the importance of completely equal treatment for local and migrant workers, including equal employment conditions (wages, working hours, demands of the job, occupational health, redundancy, union representation, working conditions, trade union rights), equal social protection and equal access to public services and public sector jobs, in accordance with Article 15 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union;
25. Instructs its Chair to forward this recommendation to the Co-Presidency of the Union for the Mediterranean, the Secretary?General of the UfM Secretariat, the Council of Ministers of the European Union, the High Representative/Vice-President Catherine Ashton, the European Commission, the parliaments and governments of the member states of the Union for the Mediterranean, and the European Parliament.