RPT: ANALYSIS - EU Lawmakers Show Support For Tories' New UK Points-Based Immigration Law

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RPT: ANALYSIS - EU Lawmakers Show Support for Tories' New UK Points-Based Immigration Law

BRUSSELS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th February, 2020) The UK government's long-awaited points-based immigration legislation, which places a specific focus on attracting highly-skilled workers who speak English, could make the country safer and more prosperous and these laws could be applied in a number of European Union member states, European lawmakers told Sputnik.

Home Secretary Priti Patel on Wednesday morning unveiled the new legislation, which takes effect on January 1. While the UK will create a new global talent scheme to attract highly-skilled workers from the EU and across the globe, the Conservative Party has shut the door to what it calls "cheap, low-skilled labour."

"We're ending free movement, taking back control of our borders and delivering on the people's priorities by introducing a new UK points-based immigration system, which will bring overall migration numbers down," Patel said in the statement.

Migrants seeking to enter the UK will now require an offer of employment with a salary above 25,600 Pounds ($33,073) and must speak English in order to be given the right to enter the country. According to the government, an estimated 70 percent of the EU workforce would not meet this requirement.

Leading opposition figures in the UK, such as the Labour Party's Diane Abbott and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon have criticized the proposals, raising doubts of the UK's ability to fill posts the government deems to be low-skilled in the service and social care sectors.

However, European lawmakers believe that the EU can take inspiration from the new UK legislation in order to safeguard the continent and stymie migration flows.

TAKING BACK CONTROL OF MIGRATION

Immigration has been a crucial issue for much of the UK's population in both the Brexit referendum, and also the December general election that saw Boris Johnson gain a comprehensive majority in the House of Commons. The threat of further migration crises, such as the one seen in 2015, had a significant impact on voting patterns, according to Francis Cole, a former civil servant in Brussels.

"One of the key reasons for the success of Brexit in the referendum of June 23,�2016, was the perception by the Brits that the EU was totally incapable of controlling its borders and was letting in very large numbers of illegal economic migrants, through Greece and the Balkan route, or across the Mediterranean, to Italy, Malta and Spain. From Calais or Dunkirk, people of all nationalities wanted to cross the [English] Channel illegally to Britain," Cole told Sputnik.

The UK government has already taken steps to address potential shortfalls in the labor market, and announced on Wednesday that a Seasonal Workers Pilot, which allows farms to hire foreign labor to pick and gather fruit, will quadruple in scale. According to the proposals, 10,000 foreign workers will be hired under the scheme.

This approach to migration, which allows the UK government to adapt its policy to suit its needs, as well as the stress on employing highly-skilled migrants, drew praise from Cole.

"Welcome to migrants who can contribute, who have qualifications making them employable and who speak minimum English, to be able to integrate quickly. For the rest, sorry but we have already done our share," the former civil servant stated.

The situation is even more pressing in the European Union; the destination of millions of migrants and asylum seekers from countries such as Syria and Afghanistan in recent years. Violent protests recently broke out in camps on the Greek island of Lesbos, and according to data published by the EU statistical office Eurostat, 874,700 asylum applications are still being considered by member states as of December.

"We must hope that the British decision has repercussions on the continent, where most accepted migrants are very poorly educated. In 2018, France officially received 122,000 asylum seekers, issued 255,000 residence permits and took care of 40,000 unaccompanied minors, not counting illegal immigrants. 322,000 of these benefited from State Medical Assistance which offers free health care," Ivan Rioufol, a French author and journalist told Sputnik.

Rioufol added that more and more highly-skilled French people were leaving the country to take up jobs elsewhere, and that it should be up to the country's population to decide whether they want a multicultural society, or one built on integration and assimilation.

On the same day as the UK unveiled its tougher immigration laws, French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to end a program that allowed clerics from Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Turkey to visit the country to speak to students. According to the France 24 broadcaster, 300 clerics traveled to France annually while the program has been operational.

EU LAWMAKERS STRESS NEED FOR DEPORTATION

For many European lawmakers, the question is not just about stopping people arriving, but developing a system for deporting those whose asylum applications have been rejected.�

"After the migration submersion that we have just experienced, we must no longer allow the entry of unqualified illegal economic migrants. 90 percent of the people who are refused asylum remain in Europe, completely de-socialized. The English success will have repercussions in Europe. It's the beginning of the end of the EU as we know it," Jerome Riviere, a French member of European Parliament, told Sputnik.

These concerns were shared by Beatrix von Storch, deputy leader of the Alternative for Germany parliamentary group in the German Bundestag, who cited Thursday's European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) judgment that Spanish authorities acted lawfully in deporting two people who attempted to scale a border fence between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Melilla.

"This must apply even more to rejections at the German border. Those rejected are still given the opportunity to apply for asylum in another EU country. Since the ECHR judgment apparently allows illegal migrants to be returned at the border, Germany should immediately start rejecting them at the German border," von Storch told Sputnik.

Filip Dewinter, a member of the Belgian parliament, was also critical of the EU's current immigration policy and the lack of a deportation mechanism.

"The European system of asylum has been dysfunctional for a very long time, and most importantly, the migrants who are refused the right of asylum never leave the European Union," Dewinter told Sputnik.

The Belgian lawmaker added that the new UK legislation, although not having any explicit rules on the deportation of foreign citizens, will be repeated elsewhere in Europe.

"No European country is successful in its deportation efforts. This slowly destroys the rule of law in European member states. The British new rule: you only enter if you speak English and are a skilled worker is a breath of fresh air and hope for the rest of Europe. I am sure many will try to imitate the Brits," Dewinter remarked.

After the migrant crisis of 2015, the EU took a tougher stance on migration. Before the termination of Operation Sophia this past week, EU vessels monitored the Libyan coast in order to prevent migrant ships from reaching Italy.

In 2016, Ankara and Brussels signed a landmark 6 billion euro ($6.6 billion) deal to help curb the Europe-bound migrant flow. Under the terms of the deal, Ankara is obliged to help stem the tide of migrants traveling through Turkey to reach the European Union, in exchange for the accommodation of Syrian refugees in Europe on a one-for-one basis.

However, the migrant question still remains a crucial issue for Europe. In order to manage the crippling backlog of cases, the European Asylum Support Office and the Greek government signed a deal in late January that will see the number of EU personnel responsible for supervising and processing asylum cases double.

FUNDAMENTAL SHIFT TO UK LABOR MARKET

The UK's new immigration legislation will have a significant impact on a number of key sectors in the job market that have relied heavily on migrant workers. Roughly 250,000 adult care workers in the UK are foreign citizens, and the country's largest UK trade union UNISON said that many who work in this profession will not meet the government's new income requirement.

"Companies and councils can't recruit enough staff from the UK so have to rely on care workers from elsewhere. But even with these migrant employees, there's still way too few care workers to meet demand. Care work is highly skilled, but low paid, so falls foul of the government's arbitrary immigration threshold," UNISON assistant general secretary Christina McAnea said on Wednesday in a statement.

This view was not shared by Gilles Lebreton, a French member of the European Parliament who suggested that employers would be forced to pay their workers a fair wage as they would no longer be able to employ foreign citizens who undercut their UK counterparts.

"This will force companies and institutions to pay small jobs more correctly: no more underpaid care-givers, house staff treated as slaves and exploited kitchen staff. Less moonlighting too. It is likely that this will lead to an increase in the cost of living, as companies can no longer engage in moonlighting or underpay staff. On the other hand, social assistance should decrease," Lebreton told Sputnik.

With their options in the UK limited, Lebreton predicted that low-skilled migrants would travel in droves to countries such as Germany and France.

"Another consequence: the lower-skilled will turn to other EU countries including France and perhaps Belgium. Germany certainly. And this will increase the number of welfare recipients, moonlighting workers and delinquents if these countries do not practice the same policy as the UK. So this decision will have results on the continent too. This is very good news," Lebreton remarked.

One crucial factor which may prevent the UK from suffering labor shortages in crucial professions is the EU Settlement Scheme, established to give EU citizens already living in the UK prior to Brexit the right to indefinitely remain in the country.

On February 6, Home Secretary Priti Patel said that three million EU citizens have applied using the scheme, meaning that many of those who are already working in low-skilled professions in the UK may be allowed to stay. Consequently, the economic impact of the UK's new immigration legislation will be felt further down the line, rather than in the immediate future.

During his pre-election campaigning, Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised voters that he would take back control of the UK's borders. As the UK shifts its focus to attracting highly-skilled labor from across the world, a significant number of European lawmakers are drawing inspiration from the new Tory legislation in order to push the EU to take back control of Europe's borders.