As immigration has become a major political issue in Europe, especially with the rise of nationally oriented parties, pressure on governments to curb its numbers has increased. Still, some countries, even those openly opposed to immigration, are attracting foreign workers to fill large labour shortages and support the aging continent’s economy.
The European Union has identified 42 professions with labour shortages and developed an action plan to attract foreign workers. Nearly two-thirds of of small and medium-sized businesses in the bloc say they cannot find the skills they need.
On the face of it, many European leaders, especially those from nationally oriented parties, appear to favour making deals with third countries to restrict immigrants’ entry or repatriate them to other countries. Yet amid much less noise, there have been signs of a policy shift that recognises the need for immigrants.
Italy recruits Indian nurses
Italy’s government, led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, has decided to hire hundreds of thousands of foreign workers who are much-needed to fill the labour shortage. The Italian government said last year, admitting that this was far less than the “identified need of 833,000” workers over the period:
“For the three-year period [from] 2023 to 2025, the government expects a total of 452,000 people.”
According to research centre IDOS, Italy needs 280,000 foreign workers each year until 2050 to meet labour shortages in various sectors such as agriculture, tourism and healthcare – roughly half the number of asylum claims made last year. The country faces labour shortages in 37 professions, with nurses and other health professionals in the greatest demand.
The government recently announced it would hire 10,000 nurses from India to fill a shortage that is three times greater. Italian Health Minister Orazio Schillaci said in October that India has an oversupply of nurses. According to him, “there are 3.3 million nurses in India.” He also said:
“We want to bring about 10,000 here.”
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The Indian nurses are highly skilled and will be recruited directly by Italian regions and placed where needed after their ability to speak Italian is determined, Schillaci said.
Maurizio Ambrosini, a sociology professor and migration expert at the University of Milan, told DW that Meloni’s government was forced to change the policy because of employers who are desperate for workers. He said by phone:
“Italian employers have been silent on the migration debate for years. I guess they didn’t want to pick a fight with right-wing parties. But that’s not the case now.”
Many, even in her own coalition, see the policy as a sharp reversal from Meloni, who once called pro-immigration policies part of a left-wing conspiracy to “replace Italians with immigrants.” Attilio Lucia, a member of the Liga party and deputy mayor of Lampedusa, a tiny island where many migrants arrive, said:
“I was hoping that now that we finally have a right-wing government the situation would change, but the right is getting worse than the left.”
Netherlands wants to keep ‘migrants with knowledge’
Business may also have influenced the thinking of the new Dutch government, led by the lawmaker Geert Wilders of the Freedom Party.
ASML, the country’s largest semiconductor equipment company, has said its success depends on talented people, wherever they come from. The company believes that inbound migration should not be restricted. Nearly 40 per cent of the company’s employees are foreign workers. Christophe Fouquet, CEO of ASML, said at the Bloomberg Tech Summit in London last month:
“We have built our company with over 100 nationalities.Attracting talent from everywhere has been an absolute prerequisite for success, and this must continue.”
Germany introduces “Opportunity Card”
Germany aims to issue 200,000 visas to skilled workers this year, a 10 per cent increase on 2023. This is due to the introduction in June of the Opportunity Card scheme, a residence permit that allows workers from non-EU countries to come to Germany and look for work.
During a recent visit to India, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Germany was “open to skilled workers” and agreed to smooth bureaucratic hurdles and increase the number of visas for Indians from 20,000 to 90,000 a year.
Germany needs about 400,000 new skilled workers a year to cover labour shortages, especially in engineering, information technology and health care, and sees trained Indians as a potential workforce.
On the other hand, the rise of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in regional elections and a knife attack in the West German city of Solingen in the summer led Scholz to sign up to the introduction of internal border checks in the EU “to curb migration.”
Speaking on the issue in July, Scholz said illegal migration to Germany should “reduce” but emphasised that the country needed skilled foreigners.
Almost all European countries face the same problem – a shortage of labour in the face of ageing populations. Despite the influx of immigrants, they do not want to appear to be allowing migrants to come without visas.
