European Conference February 16-18, 2006 in Hamburg/Germany

European countries have accumulated extensive experience with labour immigration. Yet, there is substantial controversy about the lessons to be learned from these experiences for the formulation of future labour migration policies. In the face of considerable public anxiety about the wage and employment effects of migration, European countries have been extremely cautious about introducing labour migration schemes.

In a recent Green Paper, the European Commission has invited EU institutions, Member States and civil society to engage in an in-depth discussion on the formulation of a common EU approach to labour migration.  The European Commission argues that, while every Member State shall retain the right to determine the specificities of a migration policy, the existence of a common economic, social and political space in Europe constitutes “a clear case for agreeing transparent and more harmonised common rules and criteria at EU level for admitting economic migrants.” In particular, the Green Paper raises questions pertaining to the desired level of EU harmonisation, the procedures for admission and governance of labour migration, and the socioeconomic and political rights of admitted migrants. Around the same time, the renowned migration scholar Stephen Castles has called for a reconsideration of “Why migration policies fail”.

The Heinrich Böll Stiftung has made a contribution to this ongoing Europe wide discussion process. The european conference on labour migration in Hamburg had participation from scholars, policy experts and NGOs across Europe. The aim of the conference was to explore the potential of labour migration for Europe in view of best practices and realistic options in migration policy and governance. The guiding principle was to discuss openly the potential benefits, uncertainties and disadvantages pertaining to migration in order to attain the legitimacy from European civil society, which is essential for the successful realisation of migration policies.  

The conference was organized around three thematic blocs that draw on the experiences that some European countries have recently made with opening up towards labour migration.

• In the first bloc, we discussed the long term consequences of labour migration with a view towards the social and economic challenges faced by established migrant communities in Europe. The high level of unemployment in some of these communities and the ethnically marked social tensions that exist in European societies werde the focus of debate in this section.
• In the second bloc, we used Swedish and British examples in granting of free movement to citizens of the new EU Member States as a case study to discuss the option of a more general (i.e. not industry or skill specific) opening of the European labour market to migrants.
• Thirdly, we discussed the legalisation campaigns carried out in Italy and Spain, which particularly benefited migrant workers in low-wage sectors such as agriculture, construction and domestic work.
• The final discussion dealt with the recent developments at European borders south of Mediterranean Sea and the reaction of the EU.

Programm deutsch   Program English 

Conference proceedings / Zusammenfassung der Vorträge und Diskussionen

Keynote Speech: Stephen Castles, University of Oxford, England: Back to the Future? Can Europe meet its labour needs through temporary migration?

Panel I: Langfristige Konsequenzen von Arbeitsmigration: Soziale und ökonomische Herausforderungen (Longterm Consequences of Labour Migration: Social and Economic Challenges) Zusammenfassung (deutsch  )

• Patrick Taran, International Labour Organisation (ILO)
• Jeroen Doomernik, Universität Amsterdam
• Omid Nouripour, Bundesvorstand Bündnis 90/ Die Grünen
• Esra Erdem, Universität Amhurst , USA