The EU Commission, on Wednesday (12 October), unveiled a "toolbox" for addressing Europe's demographic changes, after member states, earlier in June, raised concerns about the impact of an ageing population on public finances and labour markets.
The toolbox is based on four elements — migration, parents, youth and older people — and includes regulatory instruments, policies, and specific funding.
Next November, the commission will present a further set of proposals on talent mobility, as EU commission's vice-president Margaritis Schinas recalled this Tuesday during a conference in Vienna.
"I know that this package will be violently attacked by the populists and Europhobes," Schinas said, adding: "They will immediately jump on the argument that Europe is opening up the gates: We are not. We are opening a door so that people stop jumping from the window".
Asked about the existing hostile environment around migration in some member states, commission vice-president Dubravka Šuica also said the new toolbox is focused on legal migration.
"Last year, we had more than 3 million people who moved to Europe legally, 300,000 people who moved to Europe illegally," Šuica said.
"Migration is one of several tools, it is certainly not the only one", she said.
The EU Talent Pool, the "central piece" of the package, in the words of Schinas, could help reduce these differences.
"This will be a platform that will allow third-country nationals, especially from the countries of origin that...
A former Connecticut nurse has been charged with submitting thousands of false Medicaid claims for medication she did not give to patients, federal prosecutors said Friday. Florida resident Mariso...