Briefing Paper 104 – Attracting Skills and Talent to the EU

Attracting Skills and Talent to the EU – European Commission’s proposal for an EU ”legal” migration policy

December 19, 2022

The European Commission released a proposal for regular migration initiatives on 27th April 2022, called Attracting Skills and Talent to the EU. The legislative pillar foresees the revision of the Long-term Residents directive and the Single-Permit directive, while an operational pillar proposes to step up cooperation between Member States and with third countries, around voluntary-basis programmes. Eventually, the Commission also announces its intention to think forward and explore new avenues for “legal” migration.

This paper aims at unpacking these initiatives, highlighting positive developments and identifying ways to correct the course where needed. It will do so, for each proposal, by retracing the political context and policy shortcomings leading to them, present their main features with a critical lense and offering policy and practical recommendations to guide the process.

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This paper has been published in the framework of the project ”Realising Social Europe For All and With All” with the financial support of the European Union, through the EaSI strand of the ESF+ programme. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission.