A MEMBER of the European Union (EU) Parliament said the Philippines can soon deploy highly skilled workers in any of the 27 member-countries of the regional bloc once the EU’s “blue card” is approved. It is a proposed institutionalized EU work permit.

Glyn Ford, spokesman of the EU Parliament for free-trade agreements (FTAs), said the European Commission is currently deliberating on the proposed “blue card” that would cut down the process of non-Europeans getting work permits to any EU member-country.

He said they are trying to attract highly skilled workers that are becoming scarce in Europe owing to the aging population and much reduced births rates.

“Once approved, highly skilled Filipino workers can seek employment in any of the EU member-countries,” said Ford in an interview with the BusinessMirror.

Ford, along with eight members of the EU Parliament, are on a weeklong visit to the Philippines to meet their counterparts in the Senate and House of Representatives and discuss issues on labor and migration, human rights, and peace and security in Mindanao.

The EU legislators also met with Philippine human-rights commission chairman Purificacion Quisumbing and Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno to get updates on government efforts to address extrajudicial killings of leftist activists and journalists.

Ford said their proposed FTA with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) include a provision on labor and migration, which will be under the proposed “blue-card” system.

EU home affairs commissioner Franco Frattini, who proposed the one-for-all system, argued that Europe had so far failed in attracting highly skilled workers compared with other countries that need the workers.

He said Europe has only a 1.7-percent population of non-European highly skilled workers, while these people account for almost 10 percent of the population in Australia, more than 7 percent in Canada, and over 3 percent in the United States.

Next to India and China, the Philippines is the third- largest source of highly skilled migrant workers in the world with workers and professionals like engineers, doctors, accountants and nurses.

There are now around 8 million Filipino migrant workers in some 180 countries. Their annual remittances are now more than $10 billion annually and has contributed significantly to the Philippine economy.

Under the proposed “blue-card” system, a highly skilled foreign worker is given economic and social rights enjoyed by EU state nationals, like health care and pensions.

A MEMBER of the European Union (EU) Parliament said the Philippines can soon deploy highly skilled workers in any of the 27 member-countries of the regional bloc once the EU’s “blue card” is approved. It is a proposed institutionalized EU work permit.

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