From the European Commission:

The Council...adopted a directive aimed at facilitating conditions of entry and residence in the EU of third-country citizens for the purpose of highly qualified employment.

The directive establishes more attractive conditions for third-country workers to take up highly qualified employment in the member states of the Union, by creating a fast-track procedure for issuing a special residence and work permit called the "EU Blue Card".

As part of its move towards a common immigration policy, the European Union Parliament is putting forth a piece of legislation designed to impose penalties on employers of "clandestine" immigrants.

Italian news outlet Laspecula has published an interesting interview by Mirko Gentili with EU deputy Ewa Klamt, author of a recent report giving proposed details on the EU Blue Card. During the interview, she stated that one of the benefits of the US Green Card-inspired immigration scheme would be free-movement throughout the European Union.

An AFP press release states that the Blue Card, due to be endorsed by the European Union on December 8th, has been delayed by a few months. Read the press release below:

The EU's new "blue card" scheme to attract skilled migrant workers has been postponed, the bloc's French presidency announced Thursday.

In an astonishingly low-key news story from South Africa of all places, it was stated that the EU Blue Card could be implemented as early as December 8th 2008. This should of course be taken with a grain of salt.

The Independent Online news story said the news came from the "French presidency", but little other details were mentioned about the source.