Commissioner Brunner hosts Implementation Dialogue on Talent Attraction and Retention

On 11 December, Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration, Magnus Brunner, hosted the second Implementation Dialogue on Talent Attraction and Retention. The event brought together 27 stakeholders from a range of private and public organisations to discuss challenges, best practices, and possible solutions to boost the EU’s ability to attract and retain talent from outside the Union. 

Launched in spring 2025, Implementation Dialogues serve as a key tool for the Commission’s consultations to assess progress on EU policies and identify areas requiring support.

Key challenges and solutions to attract and retain talent in the EU

Participants highlighted key challenges, including lengthy and complex procedures, fragmented implementation of EU directives, the risk of unfair recruitment practices and inadequate working conditions, limited integration prospects for family members, and a negative narrative around migration.

At the same time, participants shared several best practices to address these issues. These included creating one-stop shops for newcomers, facilitating job applications for talented individuals from third countries, running information campaigns in third countries, establishing cooperation and mobility agreements with non-EU countries, and using digital matching tools to connect workers with employers.

They also underlined the need for faster and simpler procedures, trusted employer schemes, improved support for migrants and their integration, and better protection for migrant workers.

Commissioner Brunner took note of the main challenges and welcomed the best practices as ideas to improve policy implementation. He also warmly welcomed the engagement of both public and private stakeholders on talent attraction and encouraged the continuation of this engagement with the Commission on future policy developments.

Commissioner Brunner also recalled the numerous recent initiatives the Commission has developed to support the EU’s attractiveness for non-EU talent, such as the EU Talent Pool, Talent Partnerships, and the revised Blue Card and Single Permit Directives. He also mentioned upcoming policy developments, such as the EU Visa Strategy, which will further contribute to this objective.

List of participating stakeholders: 

1. Comply Market (Mohamed Kassem, CEO) – EU digital SME (DE)
2. ASML (Mandy Schepers, Senior Global Mobility Manager) - EU semiconductors company (NL)
3. IMEC (Robert Geivers, HR Manager) EU company - EU company R&D nanotechnologies (BE)
4. Remote (Farah Mourad, Associate General Counsel) - Startup on HR platform (PT)
5. ConnectEurope (Alessandro Gropelli, Director-General) - Social partner telecommunication
6. UniEuropa (Oliver Roethig, Regional Secretary) - Trade Union for service workers
7. Gi Group (Antonio Bonardo, Chief Public Affairs) - HR and recruitment services
8. Coimbra Group (Emmanuelle Gardan, Director) – Group of Universities
9. Representative from the Expert group on the views of migrants, Tülay Ates Brunner
10. Region of Hannover (DE) (Ulf-Birger Franz, Head of Department for Economic Affairs)
11. Region of Emilia Romagna (IT) (Gabriele Marzano, Policy Coordinator)
12. Talent Hub, Municipality (DK) (Dan Rosenberg, Head of Unit, Copenhagen Capacity)
13. Spain (Ainara Dorremochea, Director, Ministry of Inclusion)
14. Lithuania  (Osvaldas Smitas, Head of Talent Policy, Ministry of Economy and Innovation)
15. Austrian Business Agency (Margit Kreuzhuber, Head of Unit)
16. Linkoping Science Park (Lena Miranda, CEO) - Hub for innovation and technology (SE)
17. ReDI School (Mireia Nadal Chiva, Chief of operations officer) - Coding school for migrants
18. SGI Europe (Cecilia Martin, Projects Coordinator) - Social partner public services
19. OECD (Jean-Christophe Dumont, Head of the International Migration Division)
20. DigitalSME Alliance (Sebastiano Toffaletti, Secretary-General - Network of ICT SMEs
21. BusinessEurope (Maxime Cerutti, Director Social Department) - EU businesses organisation
22. Fragomen (Jo Antoons, Managing Partner in Brussels) – International immigration law firm
23. Europe Startup Nations Alliance (Inês Magriço, Finance Director)
24. World Employment Confederation (Sonja van Lieshout, President Europe) - Network recruitment agencies
25. European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) (Giulio Romani, Confederal Secretary)
26. International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) (Susanne Raab, Director-General)
27. Migration Policy Institute (MPI) (Jasmijn Slootjes, Deputy Director) – Think tank

The full conclusions of the dialogue will be published on the webpage of the Implementation Dialogue.