N-VA: “More labour migration from North Africa is not the solution.”

The European Commission wants to initiate labour migration from North African countries in order to reduce personnel shortages on our labour market and to combat so-called illegal migration. This is not a good idea, says MP Theo Francken: “Currently, there are already tens of thousands of illegal migrants from North Africa here that we are unable to accommodate because those countries are opposing repatriation.”

According to Secretary of State Mahdi, the European Commission will punish those countries for this. “But we have not seen any of that for years. On the contrary, the Commission now seems to be rewarding them. Furthermore, our asylum centres are overcrowded due to the poor government policy, which ultimately meant that a parallel reception system for tens of thousands of Ukrainians had to be developed,” says Theo Francken.

An army of inactive people

Theo Francken is clear about tackling the personnel shortage on our labour market: “Belgium still has a whole army of inactive people, especially in Brussels and Wallonia. Instead, let us focus on activating the large number of unemployed people in our own country.”

The labour participation of third-country nationals is very poor

“Newcomers must also be better employed,” adds Flemish MP Maaike De Vreese. “The labour participation of third-country nationals in Belgium continues to be extremely poor. Is admitting more people the solution, then? There is no scientific evidence that legal migration reduces illegal migration.”

Evaluate the Blue Card first

MEP Assita Kanko is clear: “Labour migration is possible, but must first be looked at within the EU. The Blue Card already allows third-country nationals to come and work here. Let us first take a look at and evaluate the application of that directive.”