L'accesso al mercato del lavoro in Italia di lavoratori stranieri altamente qualificati: l'attuazione della direttiva Blue Card tra disciplina dell'Unione europea e normativa italiana

The essay reviews key features of the 2009/50/CE directive and its transposition within member States, and in particular within the Italian national legal system. The directive sought to render the EU economy more competitive through the attraction of highly-skilled migrants. However, Member States' reluctance to cede responsibility for labour-market-access regulation has prevented the establishment of a fully-unionised regulation in this field. Italy has transposed the Directive in 2012 with Decree 108/2012, adding articles 29 quarter and article 9 ter to the 1998 Code on migration. The new legislation authorizes the issuance of a special visa (the so-called EU Blue Card) to third-country nationals entering the Italian territory for the purposes of highly qualified employment, even beyond the volumes of admissions established annually by domestic law.