EU job centres to target Africans

EU job centres to target Africans
By Alix Kroeger EU reporter, Brussels

Last year 6,000 Africans died trying to enter the EU illegally by sea

The European Union development commissioner, Louis Michel, is in Mali for talks to set up the EU's first job centre for African migrants.

The idea is to match potential migrants with job offers in sectors like agriculture, building or cleaning.

France and Spain have already pledged (許諾 v.)to advertise seasonal vacancies(空間) there.

It's part of the EU strategy to deal with the increasing flow of migrants from Africa, with other centres planned for Senegal and Mauritania.

Deadly journey

Mr Michel is holding talks on the centres with Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure Mali the capital, Bamako.

Last year, 31,000 Africans made the hazardous(危險的.adj) sea crossing to the Canary Islands to enter the EU illegally, according to figures from the Spanish government. A further 6,000 died trying.

The countries on the EU's southern flank(位於側面adv) - Italy, Malta and Spain - have been pleading for help.
The EU is stepping up border patrols(察巡), both on land and at sea.

But it's also looking at ways of increasing legal migration - both to fill gaps in the European labour market and to reduce the number of migrants trying to enter the EU illegally.

The International Organisation for Migration, which assists migrants and governments around the world, says it's a "constructive(建設性的) step in the right direction."

"You can't manage migration flows by simply having tougher border controls," says IOM (指數和期貨選擇買賣市場)spokesman Jean-Philippe Chauzy. "If you're trying to undercut the people smugglers(走私者), the best way is to open up legal opportunities (for migrants)."

The working document on the African centres, obtained by the BBC, says the job centre project will be co-financed by the EU and member states, although it doesn't give any figures(金額,位數).

It says the centres, and matching supply and demand in the labour market, are an "integral part" of the European Commission's "Global Approach on Migration".

Relieving pressure

Initially the Malian job centre will be in Bamako, but later it will establish regional offices in outlying(邊遠的) towns or villages, where migrants begin their journey.

But the idea goes far filling the gaps in the EU labour market. It's also aimed at relieving pressure on the EU by creating opportunities for Africans at home.

The European Commission wants the centre to include a micro credit facility(微型貸款) - possibly run by the Grameen Bank, which pioneered the idea of small loans to help people out of poverty by allowing them to set up their own business.

The centre will also help the people who get jobs to get the necessary papers, including visas and
residence permits.

"If migrants leave with proper contracts and visas, this makes them less vulnerable(易受傷的) to exploitation(開採)," says Mr Chauzy. It also means they're likely to earn better wages and have more money to send home to help their families.

But while Mali may welcome the centre, others are less enthusiastic.

Priorities, priorities

"This is very strange, even a bit crazy" says centre-right Polish MEP(歐洲議會會員) Jacek Protasiewicz, author of a report in the European Parliament on the discrimination faced by workers from the post-Communist(後共產主義) countries which joined the EU in 2004.

"The first thing the European Commission should do is to diminish barriers for the free movement of workers from within the EU, and then open job centres in other parts of the globe," he says.

Even now, people from countries like Poland, Slovakia and Lithuania - as well as Romania and Bulgaria, which joined the EU this year - can't work freely in all EU member states.

"Many millions of Poles, Lithuanians, Romanians (and others) would be happy to have low-skilled jobs in agriculture within the EU," he adds.

Skill shortages

But for Mali, as for many African countries, the brain drain(ph.高科技的人才外流) is a serious problem.

It isn't just the low-skilled who are leaving: it's the doctors, the engineers and the IT specialists, even if some of them up end up working in jobs far below their qualifications.

"Ways of facilitating circular and temporary migration will be explored," says the working document on the job centres.

For example, a surgeon(外科醫生) from Mali could work in the EU for a month or two a year, earn extra money, perhaps acquire some new skills and put those to use at home.

"Someone who's worked for a few years in the EU may have accumulated some capital and can identify opportunities in their country of origin where that capital can be invested and create wealth," says Mr Chauzy.

Remittances(匯寄.n) from migrants represent the biggest flow of money into many developing countries.
If some of that money can be invested to create jobs - rather than just helping families survive from one day to the next - it could make some potential African migrants think again about risking their savings and their lives on a dangerous journey to Europe and an uncertain future.