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In search of an immigration policy

A As a rule, when a plan in Brussels makes little or no sense, there are two possible explanations. The first is that the whole idea is nonsense? The second is that the muddle is really a proxy for something more interesting: an ideological fight within the European Union that has not yet been resolved. With luck, .proxy fighting explains the incoherence of the European Commission's latest ideas on immigration. These call for better management of flows into the EU, with the help of two ugly bits of jargon: "circular migration" and "mobility partnerships" between the EU and third countries. Leave aside the issue of whether governments can "manage" this phenomenon at all. (Even America finds this hard and Italy this week had to rescue two dozen shipwrecked Africans clinging to a tuna pen in the Mediterranean, after Malta and Libya could not agree over who should save them.) It is bad enough trying to resolve the contradictions in the new plan.

B Read the free print with the eyes of a liberal (in both the economic and social senses), and you might come away reassured. The union seems to view migration as a benign exchange: in one direction, labour to meet growing gaps in Europe's jobs market; in the other, a flow of remittances and knowledge to some of the world's poorest countries. Circular migration, the commission explains, is away of working with poor countries to avoid a "brain drain" (e.g. luring expensively trained nurses and doctors from Africa to prop up Europe's health services). It is meant to make sure that the brainiest can have spells back home without jeopardising the residence rights they have in Europe.

C Mobility partnerships spread this kindly approach to the less skilled. Pilot projects indude opening a job centre in Mall to spread word of job opportunities in Europe, so that adventurous young men can choose a legal route to work instead of the perilous one of a people-smuggler's boat. Being kind is also a marketing tool. Europe has for years struggled to compete with America, Canada and Australia to lure the most sought-after workers. Later this year, the commission is expected to propose its own version of the American green card, an EU "blue card", which would offer free movement around Europe to skilled migrants.

D Yet study these proposals with a more hawkish eye, and the EU appears to agree with you too. Circular migration, the commission explains, will be the model for a new piece of legislation for seasonal migrants (the low-paid folk hired to pick strawberries in Italy or haul cement on Spanish building-sites). No talk of brains being drained here: rather, there is the promise that "circular stays circular", to quote one Eurocrat, meaning that foreigners are sure to go home when their contracts expire, without any right to bring in their families or to claim welfare benefits. These are "temporary work opportunities", explained the commissioner for justice, freedom and security, Franco Frattini, as he launched the proposals.

E At last, the penny drops: this is a guest-worker plan, given a spiffy new name to distance it from past Gastarbeiter programmes, with their legacy of Dutch and German housing estates filled with Turkish or Moroccan workers who have never been fully integrated into society, because they were never expected to stay. Ah, but this is different from such old schemes, explain officials. This time, most will go home. Technology will soon mean that the EU can track visitors in and out of their 27-strong block. If that does not work, perhaps migrants could have part of their salaries withheld during their stay in Europe, for collection only once they reach home.

F In case that is not tough enough, there will be sticks and carrots for governments to make sure they take people back. Countries in the developing world that behave themselves will get preferential access to visas for their citizens, and some Eu