Europe to 'poach' Caribbean professionals

Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission (Photo: European Commission)

LONDON, England, October 26, 2007 - Europe has proposed a "blue card" system - equivalent to the American "green card" - to attract professionals from the Caribbean to fill a shortfall in labour among their own nationals.

Sir Ronald Sanders, a former Antiguan diplomat, said that Home Affairs Commissioner of the European Commission Franco Frattini called it a "global job advertising blitz" to attract engineers, doctors, nurses and IT workers from Asia, Africa and Latin American and the Caribbean.

"There are two motivations behind the plan," Sir Ronald wrote in his Blog on Caribbean360.com

"First, Europe’s population is aging but living longer, so the cost of keeping pensioners in social security schemes is rising every year. 

"On present trends, the EC reckons that the burden of paying for the livelihood of one retired person will fall on two workers, whereas today the load is shared by four workers.

"Second, the fall in the population of working age, and the requirement for modern skills, has left the European market with huge gaps.

"If Europe is to remain competitive with the US and Japan, it requires skilled workers."

He said that the EC has calculated that by the year 2030, Europe will have a shortfall of 20 million skilled workers.

The blue card system is expected to become operational in less than two years. Each EU member state has the right to opt out of it if they wish.

Read Sir Ronald's full Blog.