EU Migration Commissioner Wants Easier Entry for Non-EU Students, Workers

The EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos believes the EU needs to facilitate legal migration to meet labor shortages within the EU.

MOSCOW, December 18 (Sputnik) — The European Union (EU) needs to facilitate legal migration as a means of meeting labor and skills demand in the 28-member states, the EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos said in a statement, Thursday.

"We need legal ways for non EU-citizens to come to Europe for work or study," Avramopoulos said in his address on the occasion of International Migrants Day. "Immigration must become an integral part of a more comprehensive EU-wide approach for addressing labour market and socio-economic challenges in Europe."

The EU Migration Commissioner also stressed that EU members face shortages in experienced and skilled employees in major sectors of the economy. This is compounded by the fact that between 2010 and 2020, the number of people of working age in the EU will drop by 15 million.

He also expressed concern over the rise of xenophobia, as he fears it is "threatening the core values" of the union, according to the statement.

The European Agenda on Migration, announced this week by the European Commission, is focused on creating a comprehensive approach to immigration, which it is hoped will alleviate the effects of the economic crisis in Europe, the senior EU official emphasized.

An estimated 1.7 million non-EU nationals moved legally to the European Union in 2012, according to a joint report by Eurostat and EU Commission. The migrants were predominately of working age, estimated at 85 percent.

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