EU Policy on Labour Migration: A First Look at the Commission's Blue Card Initiative. CEPS Policy Brief No. 145, 15 November 2007

[From the Introduction]. The Commission published its proposal for a directive on migration for highly qualified employment on 23 October 2007. (1) The question of first entry by third country nationals to the member states’ territory and labour market, while within the competence of the EC since 2001, (2) has been the hardest of the immigration and asylum powers on which to find agreement in the Council. The Commission made a first proposal in 1999, but that was withdrawn after it failed to find sufficient support. That first attempt by the Commission to achieve a directive on first entry for economic activities was characterised by a uniform approach – applying to all types of economic activity