Today in the European Parliament's Employment committee a legislative proposal on the rights of seasonal workers was passed.
This seeks to make the conditions under which member states allow third-country nationals to enter the country and work an EU 'competence'. This will represent a small but significant loss in control of our own borders.
In many EU countries, such migrant workers can be treated badly. These countries should address this on their own, and not rely on Brussels to tell them what to do.
An impact assessment was carried out, and 5 options were considered. Unsurprisingly, two options which did not require legislation were discounted, but the 3 options that did call for new directives were all approved of.
As is traditional, the two UKIP MEPs who sit on the committee failed to turn up for work, as did a Tory member. Together we could not have stopped this one, but at least we could have tried. In the event, I was the only British MEP to oppose this latest attack on our sovereignty, which scandalous given that the House of Lords issued a statement in October 2010 criticising the proposal, and pointing out that immigration is not the exclusive competence of the Commission, and it should be for member states to decide their own policies in this area.
