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		Member states must decide immigration policy Wednesday, 24th October 2007 Strasbourg - The European Commission has announced a Blue Card scheme for skilled immigrants, based on the US Green Card. The card would allow suitably qualified people and their families to live and work within the EU. The EU says it needs 20 million skilled immigrants over the next 20 years, and is very short of expertise in engineering and computer technology. Speaking today, Roger Helmer, East Midlands Conservative MEP said: “This is the wrong answer to the wrong question. What we should be addressing is the wave of illegal migration into the EU before we tackle skills shortages. The proposal as it stands will open a Pandora's box to those who seek to migrate to the EU without any of the controls necessary to ensure that those who employ illegal migrants are tackled and those illegal migrants who are caught are sent back to their country of origin. “The proposal will encourage more people to undertake hazardous journeys from all corners of the world in the hope that they will get a work permit which once issued will give them free range to move across the whole of Europe. “Legal migrants from other EU Member States are already causing major problems for social services, housing and other agencies. This plan will simply multiply the problem. It is the usual EU Commission approach - one size fits all - when that simply isn't the case and Member States MUST retain the freedom to set there own parameters for whom they wish to enter and work in their countries”.