The proposal for a European directive providing sanctions against employers who employ irregular migrants should help to stem the flow of economic refugees into this continent, said MEP Simon Busuttil yesterday.
Dr Busuttil is in Malta to discuss the proposed European Commission and European Parliament directive with Employment Minister Louis Galea and Interior Minister Tonio Borg, to whom he is the shadow rapporteur on behalf of the EPP-ED.
Dr Busuttil said the possibility of finding work, even illegal work, is known to be one of the key factors “encouraging” or “pulling” illegal immigration into the European Union. He also said that 26 out of the 27 EU members already had sanctions but these varied greatly and were poorly enforced.
Dr Busuttil said the illegal employment of irregular immigrants must stop for a number of factors. “The first is, as I have already mentioned, the pull factor. The second is exploitation. Some employers take advantage of migrants and offer low-skilled, low-paid jobs in unacceptably poor conditions.”
He also said that employing migrants illegally has a knock on effect on the local workforce. “Wages and working conditions are depressed, putting ‘legal’ workers, including Maltese workers, at a disadvantage, often fuelling xenophobia,” he said.
Other reasons he gave included the fact that employing workers illegally created unfair competition, in the sense of putting companies that employed legally at a competitive disadvantage. Moreover, he said, non-payment of taxes and social security affected government revenues adversely.
The Commission, he said, proposed to implement the directive by ordering a general prohibition of illegal immigrants as well as imposing strict and severe sanctions on employers who breached this prohibition. “There will be financial penalties, fines, payment of costs of return, outstanding remuneration and outstanding taxes. In addition there will be administrative sanctions: exclusion from public benefits, state aid, public contracts, recovery of aid and that also includes EU funds,” he said.
The toughest penalties will be imposed on repeat offenders and could include criminal action. “This is for cases involving at least four illegally employed people, particularly exploitative conditions and human trafficking. There will be inspections of at least 10 per cent of all companies per year,” said Dr Busuttil.
The Malta Independent pointed out to Minister Louis Galea that like the rest of Europe, Malta was experiencing a situation where manual labour was increasingly being carried out by immigrants.
Asked whether the implementation of this directive could in any way create a drain on resources, he answered: “We have re-organised our education system and our workforce, and yes, we are conscious of shrinkage. However, we are working towards having the necessary structures in place to keep the market supplied with Maltese and foreign workers,” he said.
He added that there were some 3,000 foreign workers employed legally in Malta. To close, Dr Busuttil said: “It’s all in the slogan. Illegal employment is illegal.”