Commission staff working document accompanying the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on common principles for the further development of the Common Immigration Policy: a platform for a new European approach - Summary of the impact assessment {COM(2008) 259 final} {SEC(2008) 2026}
Date: 2008-06-17
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU migration policy, admission of aliens, border control, foreign policy, illegal migration, impact study, integration of migrants, migration control, political cooperation

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 17.6.2008 
SEC(2008) 2027 

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 

Accompanying the 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

on common principles for the further development of the Common Immigration Policy: 
a platform for a new European approach 

SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT 

{COM(2008) 259 final} 
{SEC(2008) 2026} 

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1. 

INTRODUCTION 

This  report  has  been  drafted  by  the  Directorate-General  for  Justice,  Freedom  and  Security 
with input from a number of other services of the Commission. It is a simplified version of an 
impact assessment insofar as it only consists of a problem definition which takes into account 
the existing acquis, an overview on the main orientations (explanatory memorandum), and an 
insight  into  the  future  methodology.  The  following  measures  implementing  the  common 
principles will be subject to a full impact assessment. 

Immigration is a complex issue and has become one of the most visible challenges posed by 
globalisation to EU Member States. Realising that a new approach to managing migration was 
necessary,  EU  leaders  set  out  the  elements  for  a  common  EU  immigration  policy  at  the 
October 1999 European Council in Tampere, building on the new provisions adopted by the 
Treaty of Amsterdam. The approach agreed in Tampere in 1999 was confirmed by The Hague 
Programme  (2004-2009).  In  December  2007  the  European  Council  asked  for  further  policy 
developments  and  rapid  progress  towards  a  Comprehensive  EU  Immigration  Policy  on  the 
basis of a renewed political commitment.  

2. 

PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES TO TACKLE (PROBLEM DEFINITION) 

2.1. 

SHRINKING EU POPULATION AND DEMOGRAPHIC AGEING 

As a result of diverse shifts in demographic features of the EU population, and further to the 
withdrawal from the labour market of the baby boomers cohort, the working age population 
will  face,  in  the  coming  years,  a  sizeable  decline.  The  doubling  of  the  old-age  dependency 
ratio, a growing pressure on the health-care and long-term care system, as well as the pension 
expenditure  and  a  declining  annual  average  potential  GDP  growth  rate  in  the  EU-25  are 
projected. Against this backdrop, migration has become a major determinant of demographic 
evolution in the EU  since  over  recent years it has outweighed the contribution from natural 
change. 

2.2. LABOUR AND SKILLS SHORTAGES 

A number of Member States already encounter labour and skills shortages, exacerbated by a 
low mobility of workers across the EU. According to recent medium term forecasts, demand 
for  many  high-skilled  non-manual  jobs  but  also  for  some  lower-skilled  categories  will 
continue growing. Non-EU nationals already play an important role in meeting labour market 
demands, since working age migrants from third countries tend to be slightly overrepresented 
at the highest skill levels and more significantly overrepresented at the lowest skill levels. In 
order to attenuate the labour market shortages, improving the labour market performance of 
non-EU  residents  and,  in  the  short  term,  set  up  strategies  aiming  at  attracting  new  labour 
migrants, are therefore needed.  

2.3. INSUFFICIENT INTEGRATION OF LEGAL IMMIGRANTS  

Effective  sharing  of  information,  coordinating  with  all  tiers  of  authorities  and  stakeholders 
and  paying  due  attention  to  gender  issues  and  the  specific  needs  of  migrant  youth  and 
children,  are  still  major  challenges.  The  capacity  to  collect,  analyse  and  disseminate 
integration-related information, as well as monitoring, evaluation of integration policies  and 
identification of specific indicators are to date insufficient. Structural initiatives targeting the 
host  population  to  reinforce  its  ability  to  adjust  to  diversity  as  well  as  participation  of 
immigrants  in  the  elaboration  of  integration  policies  are  still  underrepresented  in  national 

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strategies.  Improving  the  educational  attainment  of  non-nationals,  their  integration  into  the 
labour  market  and  knowledge  of  the  host  society  and  of  its  language,  ensuring  that  all 
immigrants  understand,  respect  and  benefit  from  the  full  scope  of  values  and  rights 
established  by  the  EU  and  Member  State  laws,  promoting  non-discrimination  and  equal 
opportunities are also key issues of integration policies.  

2.4. CONTINUOUS PRESSURE OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION 

From a security perspective, illegal immigration may be linked with terrorism, trafficking in 
human beings, smuggling of drugs and weapons, exploitation, slavery-like working conditions 
and other serious  crimes. Besides, illegal immigration is often associated with humanitarian 
tragedies, linked to attempts to enter into the EU territory with the help of criminal networks. 
Moreover,  illegal  entry,  transit  and  stay  undermine  the  credibility  of  the  EU  and  Member 
States'  immigration  policies  and  results  in  multiple  and  diverse  social  costs.  Illegal 
immigration  is  maintained  by  insufficient  return  measures,  boosted  by  criminal  networks 
engaged  in  smuggling  and  trafficking,  and  fed  by  the  possibility  of  finding  work  and  the 
prospect of a regularisation.  

2.5. AN INSUFFICIENT PARTNERSHIP WITH THIRD COUNTRIES 

In  the  last  decades  the  European  Union  has  become  a  destination  continent  for  immigrants 
from various parts of the world and the volume of this migration has been growing until the 
early 2000s. Economic reasoning underpins all decisions to migrate; however, the process is 
complex  and  susceptible  to  a  number  of  additional  factors  search  of  better  livelihoods, 
underperforming governance, bad business climate due to corruption and instability, disrupted 
labour  markets,  natural  disasters  and  conflicts,  etc.  The  attenuation  of  the  root  causes  of 
migration is an important element of the Global Approach.  

2.6.  INSUFFICIENT  ADAPTATION  OF  BORDER  MANAGEMENT  AND  VISA 

POLICY TO THE NEEDS OF A GLOBALIZED WORLD  

Given that border controls are a key component in the fight against illegal immigration and in 
countering cross-border crime, it is indispensable to ensure an efficient and extensive border 
control. Two areas are of particular importance to ensure the efficiency of borders controls: 
identification  of  overstayers  and  strengthening  of  surveillance  at  borders.  At  the  same  time, 
most of the passengers do not pose any threat to security and should be able to cross borders 
in  a  streamlined  and  not  too  burdensome  manner.  Moreover,  the  approach  of  national  visas 
giving  access  to  the  entire  Schengen  territory  do  not  allow  for  full  equal  treatment  of  all 
applicants, nor for a fully harmonised application of the criteria for security checks. Finally, in 
a  number  of  countries  applicants  may  have  to  travel  long  distances  in  order  to  reach  a 
consulate of a Member State. 

2.7. UNSATISFACTORY GOVERNANCE OF MIGRATION 

Asylum and immigration measures taken by one Member State are more than likely to have 
an impact on other Member States; this is a consequence of the absence of border checks in 
the Schengen area, the common visa policy, the tight economic and social relations between 
EU Member States and the development of common immigration and asylum policies since 
the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam. Due to the transnational nature of migration 
issues, national measures prove to be insufficient and action needs to be taken at an EU level, 
e.g. to set out common rules across Europe, deliver a common message towards prospective 
migrants or negotiate with third countries. A parallel and harmonious development of national 

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and  Community  asylum  and  immigration  policies  is  therefore  needed.  This  has  so  far  been 
hindered by a number of factors, including the unanimity rule in the Council, the low level of 
mutual  information,  the  lack  of  comparable  Community  statistics,  an  uneven  share  of 
responsibilities, an insufficiently comprehensive approach of migration and weak monitoring 
and evaluation mechanisms. 

3. 

WHAT ARE THE MAIN POLITICAL ORIENTATIONS AND OBJECTIVES? 

Based on the needs and problems analysis outlined above, and on the EC legal and political 
framework  in  the immigration and borders policy area, a series of objectives for the further 
development of the common policy should be set out. The European Council already decided 
on  a  number  of  objectives  and  policy  options:  indeed,  with  two  exceptions  -  the  issue  of 
regularizations,  and  the  active  involvement  of  social  partners  and  regional  and  local 
authorities - all of the objectives of this policy have already been fixed at the highest political 
level. 

The Commission has compiled and summarised these objectives into eleven principles. Each 
of  these  principles  shall  be  translated  in  concrete  policy  options  and  operational  measures, 
which  should  constitute  the  contribution  from  the  Commission's  side  to  the  major  policy 
debate which shall take place in 2009 in order to define the specific contents of the successor 
of The Hague Programme (2009-2014) in the field of immigration. 

Principle 1 – Clear rules 

Drawing up clear and transparent rules is a pre-requisite for the definition of an efficient and 
effective  migration  policy.  Migrants  should  therefore  be  provided  with  objective  and  clear 
information  on  the  diverse  existing  legal  channels  to  be  admitted  in  Europe,  on  their  future 
rights  and  obligations,  including  to  respect  the  basic  values  of  the  European  Union,  and 
should  also  be  provided,  in  origin  and  destination  countries,  with  concrete  and  realistic 
possibilities to fulfil the requirements enabling them to be issued with a visa and a residence 
permit.  The  objective  of  better  integration  will  also  follow  from  an  enlarged  set  of  rights 
granted to third-country nationals, who should benefit as far as possible from the same rights 
as EU citizens. 

Principle 2 – Economic migration  

Benefits of migration are maximized when the economic needs of the host society are taken 
into  consideration,  without,  of  course,  prejudice  to  forms  of  migration  other  than  labour 
migration. As regards economic migration, conditions of admission should, as far as possible, 
build  on  a  needs  assessment  –  to  which  the  upcoming  assessment  of  the  future  skills 
requirement in Europe until 2020 will contribute –, immigration profiles and labour matching 
policies,  using  possibly  training  in  countries  of  origin.  This  policy  therefore  accompanies 
employment  and  education  policies  seeking  to  harness  existing  potential  and  to  reduce 
unemployment of third-country nationals already legally residing in the EU, and is also to be 
carried out in full respect of the principle of Community preference. 

Principle 3 – Integration  

Integration of third-country nationals is a process of mutual accommodation by both the host 
societies  and  the  immigrants,  and  is  an  essential  factor  in  realising  the  full  benefits  of 
immigration. The mainstreaming approach based on the Common Agenda for Integration has 
already  been  followed  and  should  be  further  strengthened.  Specific  integration  programmes 
for  newcomers,  adaptation  of  public  services  to  migrants'  particularities,  fighting  against 

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discrimination, promotion of diversity management at the work place and awareness raising 
amongst  all  actors  concerned,  fall  under  the  obligations  of  the  host  society.  Gender  issues 
should be paid specific attention. Development of indicators  and regular evaluation are also 
indispensable prerequisite for improving the situation. 

Principle  4  –  Political  solidarity,  mutual  trust,  transparency,  shared  responsibility  and 

information  

In order to achieve efficiency and coherence in migration policies at national and EU level, it 
is  necessary  further  to  strengthen  coordination  between  the  different  competent  tiers. 
Coordination requires that, at Member State level, as well as at the EU level, migration policy 
is  designed  and  implemented  in  a  transparent  manner,  and  in  full  compliance  with  the 
competencies of each level. To that end, the Mutual Information System mechanism, created 
in  2006,  exchange  of  information,  as  well  as  exchange  of  best  practices,  should  be  further 
promoted, allowing to establish mutual trust and to send clear and unambiguous messages. 

Principle 5 – Solidarity  

Financial solidarity is a valuable tool ensuring a similar application of Community legislation 
and  policies  without  imposing  a  disproportionate  task  on  individual  Member  States  and 
promoting mutual trust through cooperation, dissemination of best practice and enhancement 
of  knowledge.  Designed  as  a  flexible  instrument,  implementation  of  the  Framework 
Programme  needs  to  be  carried  out  at  regular  intervals.  Total  appropriations  of  the 
Programme, in the context of the budget review 2009, as well as the distribution key for the 
allocation of the resources to the Member States, will be questioned, following an evaluation 
of the implementation, with a view to adapt to new national situations. 

Principle 6 – Need for a genuine partnership with third countries  

An  effective  management  of  migration  flows  requires  a  genuine  partnership  with  third 
countries. This implies that the EU needs to work much closer during the coming years with 
partner  countries  on  opportunities  for  legal  mobility,  building  capacities  for  migration 
management,  a  better  matching  between  labour  markets  trends  and  human  capital 
development,  protecting  fundamental  rights  and  fighting  irregular  flows.  Moreover,  more 
resources will be focused on compliance with good standards at work, and the EU will further 
develop  policies  on  ethical  recruitment,  prevention  and  mitigation  of  brain  drain  and  brain 
waste,  possibilities  for  circular  migration,  harnessing  the  development  potential  of 
remittances, facilitating returnee entrepreneur businesses. Exploratory work is taking place on 
mobility  partnerships,  paving  the  way  towards  firm  arrangements  for  the  management  of 
labour immigration, with selected long-term strategic allies.  

Principle 7 – Enhance security and facilitate the entry of bona fide travellers 

It  is  necessary  to  build  on  the  achievements  currently  under  way  with  a  greater  degree  of 
harmonisation,  through  the  proposed  visa  code  and  increased  cooperation  between  Member 
States.  Only  development  towards  truly  European  short-stay  visas  will  ensure  an  equal 
treatment of all visa applicants. A logical and necessary development towards managing the 
visa  applications  at  common  European  visa  centres  should  accompany  the  move  toward 
European visas. The pooling of resources and the economies of scale that would be achieved, 
would also ensure easy access of applicants to the premises where such visas would be issued. 

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Principle 8 – Integrity of Schengen territory 

Diverse  responses  are  needed,  including  action  to  develop  border  surveillance,  measures  to 
reinforce  the  operational  coordination  between  Member  States  through  FRONTEX,  and 
introduction of an entry-exit system to record the dates of entry and exit of each third-country 
national  admitted  to  the  Schengen  area.  It  is  also  necessary  to  ensure  coherence  between 
internal and external policies in the field of border management. A more strategic approach in 
selecting key partners for this purpose is needed, with a clearer definition of comprehensive 
long-term  objectives.  The  mechanisms  for  ensuring  burden-sharing  and  mutual  solidarity 
between  Member  States  in  managing  the  EU's  external  borders  must  also  be  continuously 
refined. 

Principle 9 – Enhancing the fight against illegal employment and undeclared work 

Initiatives  in  this  area  should  focus  on  prevention,  sanctions  and  enforcement  and  must 
involve  European  institutions,  Member  States  and  key  stakeholders,  such  as  social  partners. 
An  important  step  forward  will  be  made  with  the  adoption  of  the  proposal  for  a  Directive 
providing  for  sanctions  against  employers  of  illegally  staying  third-country  nationals1. 
Incentives towards declared work should be bolstered and further efforts to enforce sanctions 
should  be  undertaken,  materialising  in  additional  national  financial  and  human  resources, 
including the establishment of specialised control bodies, risk analysis, enhanced coordination 
and a better evaluation of controls. Moreover, legislation, monitoring and sanctions schemes 
must adapt to new kinds of fraud such as sub-contracting and false self-employment. 

Principle 10 – Fighting smuggling of migrants and trafficking in human beings  

National and Community legislation must be reviewed in order better to reflect new criminal 
phenomena  and  to  offer  an  enhanced  protection  to  victims.  Accordingly,  existing  the  legal 
framework  on  the  facilitation  of  illegal  entry  and  stay  as  well  as  the  sexual  exploitation  of 
children  should  be  strengthened  and  adapted  to  today's  realities.  Moreover,  it  should  be 
ensured  that  investigative  techniques,  funding  of  civil  society  organisations,  and  more 
generally  all  prosecution  and  protection  measures  are  endowed  sufficient  resources  by 
Member States. On the other hand, owing to the cross-border nature of the phenomena, EU 
action  should  be  stepped  up  at  regional  and  international  level,  especially  making  use  of 
international instruments against human trafficking. 

Principle 11 – Sustainable and effective return policy – regularisations 

An  effective  readmission  and  return  policy,  whilst  respecting  the  human  rights  and 
fundamental  freedoms  of  the  person  concerned,  requires  an  improved  operational  co-
operation  among  Member  States,  an  enhanced  role  of  FRONTEX  in  supporting  joint  return 
operations, and intensified cooperation and partnership with third countries and the setting up 
of common standards. Furthermore, experience has shown that is indispensable to go beyond 
the  Council  Decision  of  5  October  2006  on  the  establishment  of  a  mutual  information 
mechanism concerning Member States' measures in the areas of asylum and immigration, in 
particular  when  it  comes  to  regularisation  measures,  which  could  have  spill-over  effects  on 
other Member States. 

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COM(2007) 249, 16.5.2007. 

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4. 

FUTURE METHODOLOGY: BETTER GOVERNANCE OF IMMIGRATION 

Immigration,  being  a  complex  and  multifaceted  phenomenon,  requires  a  mixture  of  policy 
actions covering a wide range of issues and fields: demographic constraints, economic needs, 
social  expectations,  health  impacts,  trade  commitments,  development  needs,  education 
opportunities,  security  dimension,  etc.  Moreover,  as  a  consequence  of  a  shared  competence 
policy  area,  coordination  between  the  EU  and  the  national  level,  especially  on  economic, 
social  and  development  policies,  must  be  significantly  fostered.  Timely,  transparent  and 
systematic consultation of all relevant stakeholders on further policy developments has to be 
ensured. 

Any  further  policy  development  will  have  to  take  into  account  the  immigration  situation  in 
each  Member  State  with  regard  to  stock  and  flow  data.  To  this  end,  specific  immigration 
profiles should be developed for each individual Member State, in order to establish the skills 
composition  of  the  existing  immigrant  population,  and  possible  future  labour  needs.  On  the 
basis  of  individual  immigration  profiles,  multiannual  guidelines  and  objectives  should  be 
defined.  It  is  also  necessary  to  devise  evaluation  and  monitoring  mechanisms  providing 
regular  feedback  to  policy  makers.  To  allow  for  policy  improvements,  quantifiable 
performance indicators and benchmarks should be developed. Availability of statistics and of 
the  necessary  analytical  capacity  is  a  key  component  in  the  development  of  any  evaluation 
system.  Annual  immigration  reports  by  the  European  Commission  should  be  presented  to 
provide  a  comprehensive  overview,  analyse  possible  labour  market  needs  and  allow  the 
Council to make a political assessment and issue policy recommendations. 

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