Introduction: conceptualizing EU policy on labour migration

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ Another, related, obstacle to a common approach has been that most member states have their own sets of legislation and admission schemes for foreign employees.

² The United Nations Convention on the Protection of the Right of All Migrants Workers and their Family Members has not been signed by a single EU member state.

³ One of the priorities of the 2020 strategy is inclusive growth that is to be achieved through a ‘forward-looking and comprehensive labour migration policy which would respond in flexible ways to the priorities of labour markets’ (Commission 2010, 21).

⁴ Early on, the European Integration Consortium (2009, 53) argued that the current economic and financial crisis is likely to reduce short-term labour migration because migrants tend to be disproportionally affected by economic downturns (also cf. Galgoczi et al 2012, 6).

⁵ In the meantime, legislation was agreed on the uncontroversial labour migration categories of studies, pupil exchange, unremunerated training or voluntary service (Official Journal of the EU 2004), and scientific research (Official Journal of the EU 2005).