European Union government ministers were meeting in Brussels on Thursday to hold broad discussions on one of the most sensitive issues facing the 27-member bloc: immigration, reported dpa. Some 2 million third-country nationals enter the EU each year seeking a better life, according to EU estimates. And there is little evidence to suggest this figure will drop significantly in the foreseeable future. Most governments accept that migrants are needed to make up for labour shortages and compensate for their countries' ageing populations. But the at times poorly-managed inflow has also fuelled growing resentment among ordinary citizens, opposition from nationalist parties and calls for stricter controls by government officials. For the first time, EU justice and home affairs ministers were called to Brussels to discuss the issue with their employment and social policy colleagues. Ministers attending a closed-door council session on the subject were expected to spell out their countries' positions and offer their views on a number of proposals currently being put forward by the EU's executive, the Commission. These include plans for a European-wide "Blue Card" granting a work permit and better working conditions to highly skilled workers arriving from outside the EU, and stronger sanctions against businesses that employ illegal migrants. Such measures reflect an EU shift towards a "pick and choose" approach to migration that is likely to adversely affect lower- skilled third-country nationals. On Wednesday, for instance, the British government outlined details of a points-based system to "manage" immigration from outside the EU under which unskilled workers would have little chance of entering Britain and spouses would have to pass an English language test. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the proposals, devised along the lines of the Australian immigration system, were aimed at providing "robust machinery" to ensure that only those migrants "meeting the needs of the UK will be allowed to enter and work." The council meeting in Brussels was also expected to fine-tune the bloc's anti-terrorism measures, discuss proposals for stricter gun controls, and endorse a decision to allow nine new EU member states to join its free-movement Schengen area as from December 21.
