EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL MIGRATION and HOME AFFAIRS CALL FOR APPLICATIONS REGARDING AN INFORMAL EXPERT GROUP ON ECONOMIC MIGRATION 1. BACKGROUND The European Commission's Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs has decided to set up a temporary informal expert group on economic migration. The aim of the group is to provide expertise on a range of issues related to economic migration with a view to contribute to the elaboration of a new European policy on legal migration and a review of the Blue Card Directive. This is intended to help the EU address specific skills shortages and become a more attractive destination for talented workers The Commission is therefore calling for applications with a view to selecting members of the groups of experts. 2. FEATURES OF THE EXPERT GROUP 2.1. Composition The members of the group shall be experts with specific expertise and knowledge of economic migration. In addition, experts representing of common or specific interests (migrants, business or public interest, specific economic sectors such as health care, IT, international recruitment advisers or agencies) shall be invited, as shall experts specialised on the topic representing European level interest groups such as trade unions, employers' organisation, academic institutions, small and medium-sized enterprises and international organisations. The group of experts shall consist of around 15 members and shall be chaired by a representative of the Commission. The members shall be: - individual experts appointed in their personal capacity (depending on the specific expertise and knowledge of economic migration). or - individuals appointed to represent a common interest shared by stakeholders in a particular policy area; they shall not represent a specific stakeholder; or Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111 Office: LX46 06/105 - Tel. direct line +32 229-+32 229-50734 - organisations, in the broad sense of the word including companies, associations, nongovernmental organisations, trade unions, universities, research institutes, EU agencies, EU and international organisations. 2.2. Terms of the appointment Members shall be appointed for one year. The Commission reserves the right to extend the term of office of the experts if deemed appropriate. The members shall remain in office until such time they are replaced or their term of office ends. Members who are no longer capable of contributing effectively to the group’s deliberations, who resign or who do not comply with the conditions set out in this call, or Article 339 of the Treaty, may be replaced for the remainder of their term of office. 2.3. Confidentiality Members of expert groups and their representatives, as well as invited experts and observers, shall comply with the obligations of professional secrecy laid down by the Treaties and their implementing rules. Should they fail to respect these obligations, the Commission may take all appropriate measures. 2.4. Transparency The names of the members will be collected, processed and published in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies on the free movement of such data1. The names of the members shall be published on the Internet website of the DirectorateGeneral for Migration and Home affairs and in the Register of Commission Expert Groups and Other Similar Entities. Documents related to the work of the expert group may also be made public, in accordance with applicable procedures on transparency, taking into account article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. 2.5. Attendance at meetings Applicants should be prepared to attend meetings systematically, to contribute actively to discussions in the group, to examine and provide comments on documents under discussion, and to act, as appropriate, as 'rapporteurs' on an ad hoc basis. The group shall normally meet on Commission premises in accordance with expert meeting procedures. Applicants should take into account that meetings generally involve preparatory work. 1 OJ L 8, 12.1.2001, p.1. 2 3. APPLICATION PROCEDURE Interested applicants are required to submit their application to the European Commission. An application will be deemed admissible only if it includes the documents referred to in chapter 4.2 of this call and sent at the latest by the deadline referred to below. All the mentioned documents should be duly filled in, legible, signed and numbered sequentially. All the documents mentioned will be used in the selection procedure. Each application must be completed in one of the official languages of the European Union and must clearly indicate whether the application is made for individuals appointed to represent a common interest shared by stakeholders or for an organisation. However, applications in English would facilitate the evaluation procedure. If another language is used, it would be desirable to include a summary of the CV in English. The applicant must also clearly specify the stakeholder category (see annex 1) for which the application is made (see Annex I): - For individuals, applications must clearly indicate the applicant's nationality and include the necessary documentation. - For organisations, applications must clearly indicate the name and reference of the organisation and include the necessary documentation. All applying organisations must nominate their representative(s), and provide for each of them the same information as for applications of individuals. Supporting documents (e.g. publications) may be requested at a later stage. Deadline for application: Applicants are invited to submit their applications by email to the following email address: HOME-NOTIFICATIONS-B1@ec.europa.eu. The duly signed applications must be sent by 20 February 2015 at the latest. The sending date of the email will be the date of submission. 4. REQUIREMENTS 4.1. Selection criteria The Commission will take the following criteria into account when assessing applications knowledge of the legislative framework for admission of labour migrants in the EU: - proven and relevant competence and experience of the applicants, including at European and/or international level, on issues relating to economic migration, including policies which affect the effectiveness of labour migration and the EU Blue Card (highly qualified employment), more specifically in one or more of the following specific fields: 3  knowledge of the legislative framework for admission of labour migrants in the EU and the Member States;  knowledge of the legislative framework for admission of labour migrants in third countries;  knowledge of policies which affect the effectiveness of labour migration polices and the attractiveness of a destination country;  practical experience with international recruitment processes;  practical experience with the administration of labour migration policy;  expertise in the domain of labour market analysis, skills analysis and skills needs forecasting;  expertise in assessing the economic and social impact of labour migration on the domestic workforce and the economy;  relevant economic demographic and/or statistical expertise;  knowledge of circular migration schemes and ethical recruitment policies. - for individuals appointed to represent a common interest: proven capacity of the applicants to represent effectively the position shared by stakeholders; - for organisations: competence, experience and hierarchical level of the proposed representative; - for individuals appointed in a personal capacity: the application shall also include a declaration on the absence of potential conflict of interest; - good knowledge of the English language. In the selection process the Commission will endeavour to strike a balance within the group of experts in terms of representativeness of applicants (interests and organisations represented, knowledge and expertise), gender and geographical origin.2 4.2. Supporting documents Each application shall include the following supporting documents: 2 - a cover letter explaining the motives for answering this call; - a stakeholder category declaration form (Annex 1); - a selection criteria form (Annex 2) clearly documenting the professional experience and expertise as against the criteria listed in 4.1. The following information should also be included: Commission Decision 2000/407/EC of 19 June 2000 relating to gender balance within the committees and expert groups established by it (OJ L 154 of 27.6.2000, p.34). 4 o The authority/organisation for which the applicant is working, the length of time he/she has worked there, and the position and level of responsibility held there, o Other authorities/organisations, for which he/she has worked in the past, o His/her specific competences, notably in relation to economic migration, o The specific projects and/or tasks he/she has been involved in, o Any works that he/she has published on economic migration, o Any experience he/she has acquired at EU and international level, o His/her major professional challenges foreseen in the near future, o Any interests that he/she has, which may prejudice his or her independence, - 5. a curriculum vitae (CV), preferably not exceeding three pages and in English, where applicants document their professional experience and expertise in full. The CV should also contain information required in this call under Chapter 4. All CVs should be submitted in the European format (see Annex 3): http://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/europass/home/vernav/Europass+Documents/E uropass+CV.csp SELECTION PROCEDURE The selection procedure will consist of an assessment of the applications against the criteria, followed by the establishment of a list of most suitable applicants, and concluded by the appointment of members of the group. Information on the results of the call for applications will be published at least on the internet website of DG HOME. 6. OPERATION OF THE EXPERT GROUP ON ECONOMIC MIGRATION Travel and subsistence expenses incurred by participants in the activities of the group shall be reimbursed by the Commission in accordance with the provisions in force at the Commission within the limits of the available budgetary appropriations. Members will receive no remuneration for their duties. The working language for documents and meetings will be English. Two meetings are foreseen in the first year of operation of the Expert group: a first meeting is expected to be held late March 2015, a second in the second semester of 2015. For any further information please contact: 5 - Mr Jan Saver, Policy officer for economic migration, Telephone (32-2) 299.17.31, e-mail : jan.saver@ec.europa.eu - Mr Dimitri Gournis, Administrative support. Telephone (32-2) 299.77.30, e-mail : dimitri.gournis@ec.europa.eu 6