European Blue Card risks increasing brain drain

By developing a so-called Blue Card, a system similar to the American Green Card, the European Union (EU) hopes to have found the solution for the growing shortage of highly skilled employees on the European labour market. The Blue Card will make it easier for highly skilled people from third countries, among which developing countries, to come to Europe for employment purposes. With the current Blue Card proposal, the EU risks to increase brain drain in essential development sectors such as education and health. The proposal therefore clashes with the objectives of the EU’s development policy.

The EU Coherence Programme, a joint initiative of the Evert Vermeer Foundation and CONCORD, finds it important that, before the Blue Card becomes effective, the EU takes a closer look at the possible negative consequences of highly skilled migration for the countries of origin.

Of course everybody has the right to migrate. Moreover, migration can have a positive impact on development and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – especially when migrants return to their home countries with new skills and experience. Developing countries are however already suffering from a lack of highly skilled professionals in important development sectors. This labour shortage is a major obstacle for the achievement of the MDGs, one of the priorities of the EU’s development policy. The Blue Card proposal must therefore include stronger safeguards and guarantees in order to prevent brain drain.

In a new case study, focussing on the coherence between the EU’s migration and development policies, in relation to the Blue Card proposal specifically, the EU Coherence Programme highlights existing incoherencies and suggests several changes to the proposal, that are necessary to enhance coherence between the Blue Card proposal and the EU’s development objectives:

The EU Coherence Programme stresses the need for an effective code of conduct on ethical recruitment, in order to prevent active recruitment in developing countries in sectors suffering from a lack of human resources. This is especially necessary for the health sector. The code of conduct should be legally binding and include the practices of the private sector.

Furthermore, the EU Coherence Programme states the EU should provide adequate assistance to developing countries in order to address the internal push factors for migration. Also, the EU should provide concrete measures to stimulate (permanent) return of Blue Card holders, in order to prevent the negative impact on the source countries. If the EU attracts workers whose educations have been provided for by their home countries, countries of origin should be appropriately compensated for this provision of skills. Finally, the EU Coherence Programme states that the EU should encourage its Member States to strengthen their own national workforce policies, in order to become less dependent on foreign workers from third countries.

On Monday 23 June, the EU Coherence Programme organised an expert meeting on the possible impact – positive and negative – of the Blue Card proposal on developing countries. During this expert meeting, migration and development experts from the EU and developing countries discussed the proposal and tried to find solutions for the issues outlined above.

Linkt to the case study:
http://www.eucoherence.org/renderer.do/clearState/false/menuId/313375/returnPage/313375/itemId/508835/instanceId/313389/pageId/313375/
For futher information: eboonstra@evertvermeer.nl, http://www.eucoherence.org/

Information provided by Agnes Philippart, CONCORD