Speech by EU Commission VP Frattini - Migration and development: the European Policy

Summary: Speech by EU Commission VP Frattini - Migration and development: the European Policy (26 November 2005: Bologna)

Speech by Vice-President Franco Frattini, European Commissioner responsible for Justice, Freedom and Security, Forza Italia meeting, Bologna

Migration and development: the European policy

Over the last few years - especially since 1999 and the launch of the so-called Tampere programme - EU has been working to develop an immigration policy.

There have been initiatives in a number of areas - legal migration, illegal migration, integration, etc.

At the same time it has become clear that an immigration policy for the EU cannot be developed in isolation from the EU's external policies.

Therefore there have been efforts over the last few years to improve the consistency between these two policy areas. In particular, EU external policy must support the objectives of immigration policy, for example by facilitating legal, migration flows and discouraging and when necessary combating illegal migration.

There is however another aspect of the links between immigration policy and the EU's external policies: can EU immigration policy help achieve the objectives of our external policies, and in particular of development policy? There is ample evidence that the answer can be positive.

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Development of international migration is one of the main features of globalisation; indeed, migration has been called 'the human face of globalisation'.

As a result, migration is increasingly coming at the top of the global policy agenda.

Examples of this trend: the creation of the Global Commission on international migration (GCIM), which handed over its report last October. This report contains a number of recommendations that reflect a consensus on how the international community can better deal with the opportunities and challenges of international migration. European Commission has welcomed this report.

In the same vein, a 'High Level Dialogue' on international migration and development will take place in September 2006 within the framework of the General Assembly of the UN. This will provide one further opportunity to reflect on how to better manage international for the sake of the development of countries of origin.

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Against such a framework it was necessary to make Europe's voice heard. Europe has important stakes in this debate, both as an important country of residence for migrants from the developing world and as the leading donor of development assistance worldwide.

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Linkages between migration and development are a complex issue.

Traditionally, migration is often viewed as a loss for developing countries. This view is epitomised by the ongoing debate on brain drain, i.e. the fact that highly-skilled migrants from developing countries leave these countries, attracted by better wages and professional prospects in the developed world, leading sometimes to acute skills shortages in countries of origin.

Nowadays, however, a more nuanced view tends to prevail.

While it is clear that brain drain is a reality in some sectors and in some countries (especially the healthcare and education sectors, notably in Africa), there is now recognition that migration can bring significant benefits to countries of origin.

The development of migrants' countries of origin is naturally a key concern of the EU, as many of these countries are also recipients of EU development. In addition, EU has also clearly committed itself to the achievement of the 'Millenium Development Goals'.

Therefore it was natural for the EU to see how its policies could help maximise the benefits of migration for the development of countries of origin.

Such was the objective of the Communication on Migration and Development that was adopted by the Commission on 1 September.

Sub-title of the Communication is 'Some concrete orientations'. Summarizes the objective: identifying avenues for action that are as operational is possible - even though in many cases further work necessary to make these orientations operational.

Before briefly presenting these orientations, some remarks.

The Communication is based on a number of guiding principles. In particular, it seeks to respect:

- the voluntary nature of whatever initiative migrants take for the benefit of their country of origin.

- the private nature of migrants' remittances - which must not be appropriated by authorities in receiving countries (remittances can therefore not be equated with official development assistance, and cannot replace it).

- the principle of partnership between the EU and the countries in question; in other words, actions to improve linkages between migration and development will in principle not be launched unilaterally by EU; they need to reflect the needs identified by beneficiary countries.

The Communication is meant as a sort of toolbox to be used as part of the dialogue on migration between the EU and its partners in the developing world. It is up to our partners to tell us what possible measures - what tools - they view as most adequate to respond to their specific problems and challenges: of all the measures listed in the Communication, there are only a few - essentially in the area of remittances - which can be developed by the EU for the benefit of all countries. In all other cases a more tailor-made approach is needed.*

Let us now come to the main orientations contained in the Communication. As already suggested, they fall into four main categories.

The first area is that of remittances. Remittances are the financial transfers which migrants send to their family or other people in the country of origin. Now recognition that these flows - which far exceed official development assistance to developing countries, even though amounts are difficult to assess exactly (recent World Bank estimates speak of 232 bln per year to which we should add 100 bln more which are transferred by informal channels) - make a significant contribution to poverty alleviation in receiving countries, even though they are no substitute to a policy of economic and social development. Especially true in countries with large migrant communities abroad (e.g. Philippines, Morocco, Jordan, Central America, Albania…) where remittances sometimes represent over 10% of GDP. In addition, migrants or their families sometimes use part of the remittances as a start up capital for business activities, or to support small-scale infrastructure or other projects that contribute to development.

The main orientations on remittances in the Communication are the following:

- improving the available data, as sound policy can only be based on accurate data. This will imply efforts both to improve balance of payment statistics and to develop household surveys.

- fostering transparency, especially as far as costs are concerned, will enable migrants to make informed decisions.

- fostering competition, as allowing more entrants into the market should lead to lower costs. The new harmonised EU framework for payment services, about to be presented by the Commission, will play a key role in this respect.

- and fostering the development of financial intermediation in countries of origin. This can both lead to new competitive remittance channels and facilitate the use of remittances for productive uses, for example through easier access to credit. Micro-finance institutions probably offer some potential in this respect.

The second area is the role of diaporas in the development of countries of origin: notion of diaspora largely corresponds to migrant communities but it is broader - also includes descendants of migrants, even born in their country of residence, but who retain some sort of commitment to country of origin. Diasporas can play a useful role by sharing their skills and financial or 'social' capital with countries of origin, or even - more indirectly - by fostering a change in mentalities (on the basis of their experience in living in more developed, often more open societies).In this area, the EU would be ready to support the efforts of countries of origin to develop links with their communities abroad and to map the skills available within these communities, provided that these schemes are of a voluntary nature.

The third area is that of brain circulation. The notion of brain circulation refers to all schemes that allow the migrant to contribute something - and in particular skills - to his or her country of origin, essentially because he or she retains some physical connection to that country. Return - either temporary or definitive - to the country of origin is often the key element that allows such connection.

In this area, the Communication essentially aims to facilitate various forms of circular migration. They include:

- Temporary and seasonal migration: these types of migration are beneficial to the countries of origin, as migrants are likely to return with some sort of financial or social capital - the latter relates essentially to the acquired skills in the broadest sense.

- Return migration: the return of migrants to countries of origin after some time abroad can often be beneficial, in particular when migrants are willing to invest to develop a business activity. Communication emphasises that appropriate support is necessary, but also that some sort of guarantee that the migrant will be able to continue to move between the two countries can be useful as an incentive. Commission intends to look at ways in which this could be achieved (multi-entry visas, residence permits…).

- Temporary or virtual return: migrants' return does not need to be definitive to be beneficial to the countries of origin. A migrant can contribute to the development of a given country of origin even by working there a few weeks or months, thereby sharing his skills and competences. He or she could also conceivably share his/her time between two partner institutions (hospitals, universities, research centres…), one in the EU and the other in the (developing) country of origin. A migrant could even teach or provide advice from a distance, thanks to the use of information technology (virtual return). This can also constitute a partial response to the challenge of brain drain and a form of brain circulation.

The fourth area which the Communication explores is how to address the challenges of brain drain. Orientations in this area centre on the following priorities:

- Improving the available data, as brain drain is not a uniform issue. It is only a problem - and sometimes a very acute one - in certain sectors and in specific countries.

- encouraging Member States to take action to prevent active recruitment in the sectors and countries under stress, along the lines of the action already taken in some Member States (e.g. the UK code of conduct in the healthcare sector).

- helping developing countries create good opportunities for their skilled professionals, that can serve as credible alternatives to emigration. In this respect, partnerships between institutions in the EU and in developing countries could play a key role in helping favour such opportunities, and the EU is ready to provide support to such schemes.

- the Commission is also about to present more specific orientations on how to help affected developing countries respond to the human resource crisis in the healthcare sector.

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With this Communication, Commission has therefore set itself an ambitious work programme, on which it must now deliver tangible results.

These orientations also need to be seen in conjunction with other migration-related initiatives, such as the policy plan on legal migration which the Commission expects to adopt at the end of December. This will - among other things - propose mechanisms for better managing economic migration to the EU. As such, this will have an impact on how outward economic migration can contribute to the development of countries of origin.

Commission Orientations on migration and development now need to become part of our policies vis-à-vis the various countries of origin of migrants to the EU.

In this respect, Commission is ready to listen to its partners in the developing world and to discuss possible concrete cooperation - including financial assistance - to help these countries improve the contribution of migration to their development.

One continent strikes me as particularly important in this respect: Africa. As demonstrated by the recent tragic events in Ceuta and Melilla, there are many areas in Africa where migration - often unrealistically depicted as the road towards an Eldorado - is viewed as the only alternative to poverty, insecurity and the lack of prospects.

While Europe can obviously not welcome all potential migrants, and will continue to fight illegal immigration, it is ready to offer to the countries of origin in Africa a comprehensive partnership on migration-related issues.

Measures to improve the linkages between migration and development, along the lines explored in this Communication, need to be an integral part of this partnership.

In this respect, I am pleased to inform you that a dialogue covering such issues has just been initiated with the African Union, and we are planning to develop it in parallel with individual African countries for which migration is a particularly crucial issue.

This will also contribute to helping Africa meet the Millenium Development Goals.

Let us hope that such progress in meeting the MDGs will in turn, over time, help achieve a situation in Africa where migration is no longer viewed as the only alternative to poverty.

Ref: SP05-312EN
EU source: European Commission
UN forum:
Date: 26/11/2005

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