Building a more attractive Europe: the Blue Card experience
Building a more attractive Europe: the Blue Card experience

Summary/Abstract: In search of a comprehensive approach to legal immigration, in 2009 the European Union (EU) introduced the Blue Card – a horizontal directive establishing a single permit and a single procedure for immigrants from third countries willing to work in the EU. In this respect, this paper will mainly analyse to what extent the implementation of the Blue Card Directive makes EU attractive for highly qualified migrants. Considering the challenges the EU faces in attracting highly skilled professionals to its member states, this essay will also estimate whether the introduction of the Blue Card could possibly solve the demographic problems resulting from the ageing population. Thereupon, the paper will assess the effects that the Blue Card directive could have on national labour markets. Taking into account the distinctive European demographics, labour markets or the particular domestic labour capacity, Germany and Spain will be considered as case studies. Based on the results of this analysis, this study will then determine whether the Blue Card is indeed a response to the EU prospective.

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