Illegal employment... is illegal

Last week I embarked upon a consultation process on a new law that will step up the fight against illegal immigration. This is just one in a series of measures proposed by the European Commission to deal with illegal immigration and legal migration.

The proposed law, for which I am the spokesman on behalf of my political group, the EPP-ED, seeks to introduce strict sanctions on employers caught employing illegal immigrants without a work permit, that is, illegally.

The possibility of finding work, even illegal work, is known to be one of the key factors "encouraging" or "pulling" illegal immigration into the EU. This is why the European Commission is proposing a law to limit this force of attraction. Today, 26 of the 27 EU countries already have sanctions. But these vary greatly and are poorly enforced. Hence, the need for a common European law which would send a common coherent signal.

Indeed, the law would send a strong signal to employers and to would-be illegal immigrants alike that Europe is not a free-for-all and that illegal employment is no longer tolerated.

In other words, illegal employment is illegal. No more, no less.

There are many reasons why this should be so; the pull factor being just one of them. Illegal employment often leads to exploitation of immigrants with employers taking advantage by offering low-skilled, low-paid jobs in unreasonably long hours and unacceptably poor conditions.

But that is not all. As a result of illegal employment, wages and working conditions are depressed, often putting "legal" workers, including Maltese workers, at a disadvantage. This, in turn, often also fuels xenophobia.

Illegal employment also puts companies that employ workers legally in a competitive disadvantage since they find it harder to compete against the lower costs of companies that resort to illegal employment. Hence, this law reinstates a level playing field and is therefore good for business and for traders who play by the rules.

Last but not least, illegal employment results in the non-payment of taxes and social security contributions and therefore comes at a huge cost to government revenues.

The Commission proposal introduces a general prohibition on illegal employment of illegal immigrants along with tough sanctions on employers who violate this rule.

Three types of sanctions are envisaged.

First, financial penalties consisting of fines but also the payment of the costs of return of the immigrants in question as well as the payment of outstanding salaries and taxes.

Secondly - and interestingly - administrative sanctions are envisaged, consisting of the exclusion of companies from public benefits, state aid, public contracts as well as the recovery of aid, including EU funds.

Thirdly, criminal sanctions are proposed in cases of repeated offences, cases involving at least four persons employed illegally, cases involving particularly exploitative conditions and cases linked with human trafficking. It will be up to member states to determine the criminal sanctions provided these are sufficiently tough to be effective and dissuasive.

Finally, the proposed law would oblige national authorities to inspect at least 10 per cent of all companies per year to monitor the labour market against illegal employment. This means that enforcement will have to be significantly stepped up.

Last Friday, I met the Deputy Prime Minister Tonio Borg and Minister Louis Galea together with their respective heads of ministries, departments and public agencies falling under their portfolio. I discussed with them how they viewed this proposal and sought their feedback. I am grateful for their cooperation.

In the coming weeks, I will also be meeting representatives from employers' organisations, trade unions, non-governmental organisations and immigrants themselves in order to obtain a comprehensive picture from all stakeholders. I will also be holding similar consultative meetings in Brussels before submitting my amendments to the Commission proposal.

Readers who wish to submit their feedback on this proposal are kindly requested to contact me on the e-mail indicated below. A copy of the Commission proposal may be obtained from this link: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/com/2007/com2007_0249en01.pdf.

Readers who would like to ask questions to be answered in this column can send an e-mail, identifying themselves, to contact@simonbusuttil.eu or through www.simonbusuttil.eu.