Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-12-13-Speech-1-132"
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"en.20101213.18.1-132"2
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"Madam President, first of all, I would like to thank the two rapporteurs, Mrs Mathieu and Mr Cercas, the two committees, as well as the Belgian Presidency, for the hard work that has been done on this proposal.
As you are aware, and as the rapporteur said, the Commission already presented this report in 2007. Our aim was, and is still, to simplify procedures by introducing one permit for residence and work, while guaranteeing employment-related rights to legally residing third-country workers who are not covered by specific EU legislation or Commission proposals. With this proposal, we do not address the conditions for granting or withdrawing a permit. Such conditions are the competence of the Member States, as is the decision on volumes to admit – if any.
This proposal is one of the building blocks of the European Union’s labour and migration policy. If it is adopted by Parliament and the Council, this directive will confirm that the European Union values the important contribution third-country workers make to our economies and our societies. It would also demonstrate that we are ready and able to agree on legislation concerning labour and migration.
It is a very complex proposal and it addresses both the immigration side and the social employment side. The majority of the amendments voted in the respective committees of this House can be supported by the Commission to the extent that they reinforce procedural guarantees for both the migrants and the employers. This is in relation to amendments geared towards further simplifying the application procedures and strengthening the equal treatment provisions – for example, the principle of proportionality of fees as regards procedures and the equal treatment provisions on tax benefits.
On the other side, the amendment that makes the export of acquired pensions conditional upon the existence of a bilateral agreement is much more restrictive compared to the approach proposed by the Commission.
I am pleased to see that both the Presidency and Parliament have made important efforts to bring their positions closer. The Belgian Presidency has tried to have Member States come closer to the EP position, and I know that Parliament has taken into account a number of the concerns and requests by the Council.
The compromise we are all trying to achieve will respect certain criteria, such as the aim to protect migrant workers and to provide them with a series of work-related socio-economic rights on the basis, as much as possible, of equal treatment with EU workers as from day one of employment. It will also take account of the importance of creating a level playing field throughout the EU for these workers and, thirdly, the importance of showing our partner countries that we are ready to provide for the fair treatment of third country nationals legally residing and working in our Member States.
We cannot disregard Member States’ concerns relating to certain equal treatment provisions, especially when it comes to budgetary concentration. What I believe important is that those criteria I have just highlighted are respected, even though the end result may not be as ideal as we wanted and as ambitious as we had hoped for. As Mrs Mathieu said, this is a compromise. It is a good compromise and it marks an important step forward in the area of legal migration and will be of high importance to the workers of the European Union.
Let me therefore express my hope that we can reach an agreement on this proposal as soon as possible. I again thank the rapporteurs and the shadow rapporteurs for the work that has been done."@en1
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