In the aftermath of the Joint Council of Interior, Justice and Employment and social affairs ministers, European Social NGOs regret the lack of human-rights based approach in the decisions taken.

“Too often migration is seen as a utilitarian and short-term solution to demographic change. This approach, which treats migrants as economic units and not as human beings, is not consistent with European values,” said Fintan Farrell, President of the Social Platform, highlighting the ministers’ decision to link migration, employment and the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs, ie aligned with skills shortages and labour market requirements.

In a letter sent to the ministers ahead of the Council, the Social Platform strongly noted that the EU needs to adopt an approach on migration that is above all based on fundamental rights and responds to the needs of migrants and their families. According to Social NGOs, creating conditional rights for migrants will unavoidably lead to less favourable working and residence conditions for third country workers who are considered “less qualified”.

“The rights gap between artificially created categories of migrants will reinforce existing inequalities and discrimination in society,” added Farrell. “This might ultimately jeopardize the integration of migrants, whereas the EU should strive to treat all third country nationals equally and build an inclusive European society, free of racism and discrimination.”

This said, the Social Platform welcomes the initiative of the so-called Jumbo Council which shows an institutional commitment in joining forces to address societal challenges. European Social NGOs believe indeed that enhanced policy coordination is needed at European in order to better mainstream integration issues such as social protection, health and employment policies. However, the Social Platform underlines that the impact assessments of proposed legislation on migration could have been improved if more dialogue have taken place with civil society actors.

For more information, please contact Daniela Vincenti Mitchener at +32 (0)2 5081632 or +32 (0)497 412095