The revision of the EU Blue Card Directive. An opportunity to establish a higher standard of rights for labour migrants in the European Union?

Masterarbeit , 2017 , 83 Seiten , Note: 1,0

Politik - Region: Westeuropa

This thesis explores the first phase of the revision of the European Union (EU) Blue Card Directive from June 2016 to June 2017. Out of the four EU labour migration Directives, the Blue Card aims to attract highly-skilled third country nationals to the EU and grants those admitted a favourable set of rights. In the revision, the European Parliament is for the first time fully involved as co-legislator for the Blue Card Directive. Existing research indicates that the European Parliament seeks to strengthen labour migrants’ rights. In this context, this thesis asks the question to what extent the revision process offers the opportunity to strengthen Blue Card holders’ rights. At the same time, strengthened rights for Blue Card holders inevitably result in an increase in the diverging treatment of labour migrants in the EU. In light of this ambivalence, this thesis aims to not only analyse opportunities for strengthened rights for Blue Card holders, but also to what extend the revision of the Blue Card Directive offers the opportunity to establish a higher standard of rights for labour migrants in the EU. This analysis shall complement academic literature that questions the practice of granting labour migrants in the EU different rights, but lacks of research on the manner in which the more preferential treatment of highly-skilled labour migrants is justified by actors in the European Commission and Parliament.
This thesis uses a methodological triangulation approach of qualitative policy document and interview analyses. It finds that the Commission’s proposal and the Parliament’s involved Committees propose to strengthen Blue Card holders in several regards. At the same time, findings indicate that the perception about labour migrants’ economic contribution, their perceived scarcity and their intended duration of stay determine the rights granted. The results suggest that a revised Blue Card might serve as a reference for all labour migration Directives and future initiatives regarding equal treatment and safeguards to protect permit holders from the loss of status. In terms of rights to family reunification, access to long-term residence and intra-EU mobility, the thesis’ findings raise doubts whether strengthened rights can benefit labour migrants that are not categorised as highly-skilled or do not belong to a comparable category.

Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)

• Introduction
• Current state of research and introduction to research questions
• The development of the EU's sectoral labour migration framework, the Blue Card Directive and its current revision
  • The development of the EU's sectoral labour migration framework
  • The negotiations on and implementation of the Blue Card Directive
  • The current revision
• Theoretical Considerations
  • The concept of migration management
  • Utilitarian approach to migration management and the fragmentation of rights within the EU's sectoral labour migration framework
  • The concept of core rights and trade-offs between rights and scope
  • The role of the European Parliament in asylum and labour migration policy-making
• Method
  • Choice of actors and purpose of interviews
  • Interview technique, data and analysis
• Analysis Results
  • Analysis of the Commission proposal
  • Interview analysis results
  • Analysis of amendments tabled by Shadow Rapporteurs and the EMPL Rapporteur
  • Analysis of the final LIBE report
• Discussion
• Outlook

Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)

This thesis examines the initial phase of the European Union (EU) Blue Card Directive revision, spanning from June 2016 to June 2017. It specifically focuses on the rights that future Blue Card holders will have. The work seeks to analyze the extent to which the revision process presents an opportunity to strengthen these rights, while also acknowledging the inherent tension between strengthening rights for Blue Card holders and the potential for increased divergence in treatment of labor migrants within the EU.

• The revision of the Blue Card Directive and its potential to strengthen the rights of Blue Card holders
• The role of the European Parliament in shaping the Blue Card Directive revision process
• The impact of the Blue Card Directive revision on the fragmentation of rights within the EU's sectoral labor migration framework
• The balancing of rights and scope in the context of the Blue Card Directive
• The factors influencing the rights granted to Blue Card holders, such as their perceived economic contribution, scarcity, and intended duration of stay

Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)

• Introduction: This chapter provides an overview of the thesis, outlining its objectives, research questions, and the context of the Blue Card Directive revision.
• Current state of research and introduction to research questions: This chapter reviews existing research on the Blue Card Directive, highlighting the role of the European Parliament in labor migration policy-making and the need for a more nuanced understanding of the rights granted to Blue Card holders.
• The development of the EU's sectoral labour migration framework, the Blue Card Directive and its current revision: This chapter examines the historical development of the EU's sectoral labor migration framework, focusing on the origins, implementation, and current revision of the Blue Card Directive.
• Theoretical Considerations: This chapter explores key theoretical concepts relevant to the analysis, including migration management, the utilitarian approach to migration management, the concept of core rights, and the role of the European Parliament in asylum and labor migration policy-making.
• Method: This chapter details the methodological approach employed in the thesis, including the selection of actors for interviews, the interview technique, data collection, and analysis methods.
• Analysis Results: This chapter presents the findings of the analysis, examining the Commission proposal, the interviews conducted, the amendments tabled by Shadow Rapporteurs and the EMPL Rapporteur, and the final LIBE report.

Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)

The key words and focus topics of this work are: Blue Card Directive, labor migration, EU migration policy, rights of labor migrants, European Parliament, European Commission, sectoral labor migration framework, highly-skilled workers, fragmentation of rights, equal treatment, migration management, core rights, trade-offs between rights and scope.

• Hochschule: Aarhus Universitet (School of Culture and Society)
• Veranstaltung: European Studied
• Note: 1,0
• Autor: MA European Studies Axel Ruppert (Autor:in)
• Erscheinungsjahr: 2017
• Seiten: 83
• Katalognummer: V414283
• ISBN (eBook): 9783668653078
• ISBN (Buch): 9783668653085
• Sprache: Englisch
• Schlagworte: Migrationspolitik, Migration policy, Menschenrechte, Human rights, European Parliament, Europäisches Parlament, Blue Card, Blaue Karte EU, Interview analysis, Interviewanalyse, Qualitative analysis, Qualitative Analyse, Highly skilled migration, Migration Hochqualifizierter, Migrants rights, Migranten Rechte