Avoid further restrictions on labour migration – give businesses the freedom they need
The Flemish economy is running at full speed in various sectors, but has been facing a structural problem for years: an increasingly acute labour shortage. In sectors such as construction, industry, healthcare and logistics, vacancies remain open for months. Despite efforts to activate and mobilise the labour force, it is not possible to bridge the gap. International employment, through targeted labour migration from outside the EU, is therefore not an ideology, but a pure necessity.
Employers who want to recruit through the labour migration framework today face a complex tangle of administrative procedures. Applying for a single permit — which includes both a work and a residence component — can take months.
The Flemish government’s plans include a faster procedure for highly skilled workers, which is positive.
At the same time, however, companies would have little chance of recruiting low-skilled third-country nationals – people from outside the European Economic Area. This may be well-intentioned, but it is also incomprehensible, given the pressing needs. Think of the people who build our houses, care for our sick and keep our production running. After all, our society does not run on engineers alone.
Free movement of services and posting as a valuable and complementary system
If the formal channels for labour migration are closed, companies will be forced to turn to other alternatives such as posting. Thanks to the so-called “Vander Elst exemption”, workers who are nationals of a third country and already legally working and residing in another EU Member State (e.g. Romania or France) can be temporarily posted to Belgium without needing a Belgian single permit or work and residence permit.
In this respect, posting has become an essential tool for Belgian companies. Posting companies ensure that people can be deployed temporarily, quickly and efficiently on projects in Belgium.
But don’t underestimate the efforts involved
Posting is certainly not a simple or “cheap” solution, as is sometimes suggested. Posting companies make great efforts to comply with complex Belgian regulations. They have to familiarise themselves with our social, tax and residence law framework. They also have to correctly apply Belgian employment and wage conditions, declare their activities and, in line with the double taxation treaty, pay withholding tax and income tax in Belgium where necessary.
Anyone who thinks that posting automatically equates to evasion or convenience is doing these companies a great disservice. They bear their responsibility and make the system workable for all involved. But they too benefit from a broad and stable legal framework in which posting and labour migration can coexist.
Give companies a choice
Posting should not become a substitute for inaccessible labour migration. If the Flemish government closes the front door to regulated labour migration, companies will have to work through the back door more often. However, not every project lends itself to posting. Some companies want to retain employees for the longer term, house them here, train them and integrate them. In such cases, the system of labour migration via a single permit is more suitable.
Moreover, this back door – however legal it may be – has other disadvantages. Although posting via the Vander Elst exemption is perfectly legal, in practice it means that the employees concerned do not pay social security contributions in Belgium. This system is economically efficient for companies and legally correct, but it is not neutral for our social security system. Less government revenue, more risk of social dumping, and an erosion of fair competition.
By denying access to the single permit for low-skilled workers, companies are deprived of that choice. They are forced to work through arrangements that may be less suited to their needs. That is regrettable – and quite unnecessary.
Rather than pushing companies in one direction, let them have the flexibility they need.