EMN National Contact Point (NCP) in Latvia, holding the Presidency of the Council of the EU in the first half of 2015, organised EMN annual conference on Attracting and Retaining Talent in Europe. The event was held in Riga on 19 – 20 March, 2015. The organisers welcomed 135 participants including representatives from the European Commission, 26 EMN National Contact Points, international and regional organisations (e.g. the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, International Organization for Migration, Migration Policy Institute), national and international academics and researchers, representatives from governmental departments of third countries and the business community. The conference was attended by two representatives of the Slovak EMN NCP.
The conference theme corresponded with one of the priorities defined by the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union – more competitive EU as a basis for growth, improvement of quality of human life and contribution to the development of the future. The conference was launched by the speech of Janis Citskovskis from the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs of the Republic of Latvia. Latvian Minister of Interior Rihards Kozlovskis consequently highlighted the role of the EU Member States in creating conditions for admitting talents from third countries as well as the role of the EU in providing support to the Member States. The Director General of International Organization for Migration (IOM) William Lacy Swing highlighted the inevitability of migration and underlined the need of suitable integration pre-departure and post-arrival measures as well as the role of actors at the local level. Belinda Pyke, Head of Migration and Mobility of the DG Migration and Home Affairs Directorate B, presented the EU plans on promotion of migration management, on making the EU more attractive for talents, and on integration.
The first panel chaired by Anna Platonova from IOM focused on the definition of talent, demographic changes and challenges, shortages and attracting qualified migrants from the perspective of the attractiveness of the labour market. These topics were discussed by Mathias Czaika from the University of Oxford, Ilmars Osmanis from Hansa Matrix Group, Jasper Van Loo from CEDEFOP and Thomas Liebig from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The second panel dealt with the readiness of the EU for attracting qualified workers in comparison with other countries and the influence of the third countries and businesses on policy shaping. Apart from policies, attracting skilled workers requires also other factors such as social security, taxation, health system, education, lifestyle, and family arrangements. The panel was moderated by Madeleine Sumption from the University of Oxford and among panellist were Steve J. Couch from PricewaterhouseCoopers, Anna Gazarian from Employee Mobility Solutions, Matt Hoskins from Skills and Investment in New Zealand and Marie Josee Lemay from the Canadian Ministry of Immigration.
The topic of the third panel concerned national practices used for attracting skilled workers. According to the discussion which was moderated by Laura Corrado, Head of Unit Legal Migration and Mobility of the DG Migration and Home Affairs, besides national and EU legislation, there are also other factors important for attracting the talented group of migrants. Apart from social and economic factors, the EU will have to focus also e.g. on enhanced cooperation with the countries of origin, particularly in the field of provision of information and covering labour shortages. The panel was attended by Jan Saver from DG Migration and Home Affairs, Elisa Hanganu from the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, Ágnes Töttős from the Hungarian Ministry of Interior and Birgit Lüüs from the Ministry of Interior of Estonia.
The fourth panel focused on main factors crucial for migrants when making a decision whether to leave their country. When deciding for the host country, migrants often take into consideration various factors such as language while language barrier can be the most difficult obstacle for the successful integration. During this panel, Eugene Eteris, professor at the University of Riga, led the discussion with Juris Gromovs from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Maris Baltins from the State Language Center in Latvia and Sverker Rudeberg from the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, BUSINESSEUROPE.
The last panel discussed how migration of talented workers can bring benefits to migrants themselves, their countries of origin and EU Member States as well. The debate focused on the problem of brain drain, arguments for and against the allegation that migration contributes to the development of countries of origin and the impact of remittances. This panel was led by Kielo Brewis, representative of the Finish EMN NCP, and attended by Ronald Skeldon from the University of Sussex and University of Maastricht, Riva Kastoryano from the Sciences Po Paris and Masarat Din from Amitours Group.
At the end, Laura Corrado summed up the main findings of the conference and the meeting was consequently closed by the speech of Janis Citskovskis. More information about the conference including programme and presentations is available on Latvian EMN NCP website.