European Trade Union Committee for Education

The Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs from the European Commission has recently launched a public consultation on EU legislation on the legal migration of non-EU citizens, which aims to collect evidence, opinions and relevant data to support the European Commission’s evaluation of the existing EU legal framework for the legal entry and residence of nationals of non-EU countries to the EU Member States (legal migration).

This initiative is part of the EU Migration Agenda and focuses on the legal access and integration of migrants into the EU labour market. It also touches upon several education questions which relate to the ETUCE Resolution on Education Trade Unions on the Refugee Situation in Europe: Promoting Education as the Key to Integration and Inclusion, adopted in December 2016.

The online consultation is available in all EU official languages until 18 September 2017.

Apart from general views regarding the legal framework for the entry and stay of non-EU citizens in the EU; the consultation is divided into five specific parts depending on the groups of individual respondents. In particular, part V addresses, among other organisations, trade unions.

ETUCE member organisations are encouraged to participate in this consultation and to disseminate the information to their affiliates. Sections (i) and (ii) invite contributions also from individual migrants considering to come to the EU or residing or having resided in the EU, in particular, for employment, training, research or educational purposes.