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MANILA, Philippines -- The European Union is in the process of formulating a common migration policy, and its parliament is scheduled to debate on it either this Wednesday or Thursday, particularly the proposed rule that will be tough against those who stay beyond their visa deadline.
According to the December 18 network of migrants' organizations, the EU Parliament will put a draft directive establishing common EU rules on the deportation of illegal migrants to a first-reading plenary vote in Strasbourg on June 18.
This draft legislation, also known as the "return" directive, declares foreigners who overstay their visas as illegal and will be detained for a maximum of 18 months and together with their children will face voluntary deportation or forced expulsion, and blacklisting for five years.
Early June this year, the 27 EU interior ministers approved the new rule, which if passed by its parliament was scheduled to take effect in 2010.
An Agence France-Presse report on the new EU rule said Europe has some 12 million overstaying or undocumented migrants, including those from the Philippines, China, Ukraine, and Latin America.
Philippine government statistics show that there are some 124,000 undocumented Filipinos in Europe, 40,000 of them in France and 20,000 in Italy.
Aside from the "return" directive, the EU will soon have a common migration policy covering the following complementary areas: measures to promote legal immigration by skilled workers (the Blue Card directive); and a third directive, currently being examined by members of the European Parliament, that will punish employers of illegal immigrants and thus discourage clandestine working.
Migrante-Europe has asked the EU to reconsider this ruling, arguing that it goes against international conventions on human rights and migrant workers' rights.
At the same time, its Committee of the Regions, an EU think tank mandated to provide regions and cities with a voice in the EU decision-making process, supports the regional bloc's ratification of the United Nations' International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Their Families, which is the treaty that binds sending and receiving countries to its eponymous aim.
According to http://www.december18.net, the portal for the promotion and protection of migrants' rights, only three European states -- Albania, Turkey, and Bosnia & Herzegovina were among the 37 countries that have ratified the treaty, and that of the 15 that have signed the document, only two were from Europe -- Montenegro and Serbia.
In its draft opinion, which was obtained by INQUIRER.net, and which will be discussed in 75th plenary session on June 18 and 19, the Committee of the Region agrees that EU should promote regular labor migration and discourage irregular employment of foreign workers.
The committee believes that ending irregular labor migration should be "directed primarily at those persons, employers, or individuals who recruit third-country nationals with irregular status in a member-state."
It recommends that the EU partners with third countries that are willing to tackle illegal migration and human trafficking.
