40,000 Indians to be allowed to work in Europe: Report

LONDON: At least 40,000 Indians may be allowed to work in Europe, including 12,000 in Britain alone, under a secret trade plan between the European Union and New Delhi, a media report said, citing leaked documents.


The EU has proposed that 40,000 Indian workers will be admitted to Europe without any labour market test as part of the plan to boost export trade with New Delhi, the 'Daily Mail' reported, quoting a leaked copy of the EU/India Free Trade Agreement, which is due to be signed later this year.


Central to the agreement is the EU's offer on what is known as "Mode 4", which will allow Indian companies to bring temporary workers into the EU, the newspaper said.


According to the leaked papers, out of 40,000 Indians who would be allowed to work in Europe, Britain has been asked to take 12,000, which is 30 per cent of the total allocation, despite the UK making up 12 per cent of the EU's population.


The 12,000 Indian migrants, who would be able to live and work in Britain for six months, will be in addition to people given visas under Britain's supposedly strict immigration cap, the newspaper said.


A large number of beneficiaries will be IT workers who already arrive in Britain from India in large numbers, the report added.


According to EU officials, in return for opening up the jobs market, countries such as Britain will be helped to land lucrative export deals.


The negotiations on the India deal -- which was first initiated by Former EU Trade Commissioner Lord Mandelson in 2007 and subsequently have been led by Business Department -- was going on in the shadows for years, the daily said.