EU Legal Migration Policies Since Tampere, and Their Relationship with International Standards and the UN Global Compact for Migration

• Author: Ryszard Cholewinski
• Profession: Senior Migration Specialist, International Labour Organization (ILO) Regional Office for Arab States, Beirut
• Pages: 197-215

197

15. EU LEGAL MIGRATION

POLICIES SINCE TAMPERE, AND

THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH

INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS

AND THE UN GLOBAL COMPACT

FOR MIGRATION

Ryszard Cholewinski1

1. Introduction

is chapter discusses the European Union (EU) legal and policy

measures on legal migration adopted since the European Council

Conclusions, agreed in Tampere, Finland, in October 1999 (the

‘Tampere Milestones’),2 which set out the vision and framework

for the EU law and policy on asylum and migration. e spe-

cic objective of the chapter is to consider how the governance of

labour migration and protection of migrant workers from outside

the EU since Tampere accords with international standards and

the United Nations (UN) Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and

1 e views in this paper are solely those of the author and do not reect the views of the

ILO or any of its constituents.

2 Tampere European Council, Presidency Conclusions, Towards a Union of Freedom,

Security and Justice: e Tampere Milestones, 15-16 October 1999.

Table of Contents

198 PART III - Irregular and Regular Immigration

Regular Migration (GCM),3 the non-binding cooperative frame-

work on international migration adopted by the Intergovern-

mental Conference in Marrakech, Morocco on 10 December 2018

and endorsed by the UN General Assembly later that same month.

e chapter rst reviews the parts of the Tampere Milestones

that apply to legal migration and provides a concise overview of the

EU legal migration acquis, drawing also on the recent tness check

conducted by the European Commission as well as its reports on

the implementation of relevant directives. It then considers this

acquis in the context of the legally binding international human

rights and labour instruments ratied by EU Member States. e

nal section examines the acquis in light of the decent work and

labour migration provisions of the GCM. While EU member states

were fully engaged in the negotiations on the GCM, almost one-

third voted against or abstained.

2. The Tampere Milestones and Legal Migration

e Tampere European Council Conclusions laid out the vision

for implementation of the provisions of the Amsterdam Treaty,

which aorded the EU competence over asylum and migration

from third countries.4 e Conclusions covered the following

themes: partnerships with countries of origin, a Common Euro-

pean Asylum System, fair treatment of third country nationals,

and management of migration ows. e third and fourth the-

matic areas are particularly relevant to labour migration. With

regard to the fair treatment of third country nationals, the Euro-

pean Council observed:

18. e European Union must ensure fair treatment of third

country nationals who reside legally on the territory of its

Member States. A more vigorous integration policy should

3 UN General Assembly (UNGA), 73rd Session, Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and

Regular Migration, A/RES/73/195 (11 January 2019).

4 Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty on European Union, the Treaties establish-

ing the European Communities and certain related acts, Ocial Journal (OJ) of the

European Union, 1997, C340/1.