The Past, the Present and the Future of the Seasonal Workers Directive

Abstract

This study aims at highlighting those legal and political issues that raised the most concerns during the negotiations of the Seasonal Workers Directive by giving an insight to the events behind the scenes. The research does not intend to describe every element of the Directive; instead it wants to reveal the specificities of the Seasonal Workers Directive. It therefore introduces the meaning of seasonal and circular migration from the aspect of the Directive; and also gives an insight of what challenges resulted from the fact that it is the first Directive on legal migration to cover short-term stay. The alignment of the provisions of the Directive with the Schengen acquis therefore is discussed in details.

Apart from solely legal issues the study also touched upon forms of how the Directive wishes to protect seasonal workers from exploitation and provide a stable legal basis with a tailor-made set of rights for them.

The frame used in the study for discussing these issue starts with the introduction of the plan and the adoption of the Directive, and ends with some thoughts on the challenges of implementation by two chosen Member States, namely Poland and Finland because of their unique national situations. Consequently, the study wishes to touch upon the past, present and the future of the Seasonal Workers Directive, as well.