COVID-19, agri-food systems, and migrant labour : the situation in Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden

Abstract

Building on exhaustive Open Society European Policy Institute and European University Institute publications on migrant labour in the agri-food system in Southern and Northern Europe, this short brief focuses on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on agri-food systems and migrant labour in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. As all the country sections in this brief highlight, the Covid-19 crisis has further exposed the limits of long supply chains, including in terms of price distortions, unfair competition and distribution dynamics. The pandemic has also further exacerbated the conditions of precariousness and vulnerability of many workers employed in the agri-food system, especially migrant workers. This study shows that while national governments have adopted several measures to facilitate the mobility and recruitment of seasonal migrant workers, temporary and selective short-term regularisation measures cannot be the only response, above all to combat the exploitation of migrant workers. A profound revision of migration policies to develop safe and legal entry routes for low- and medium-skilled workers is needed. It is also necessary to adopt structural interventions to strengthen wages and labour rights, ensure decent living conditions, develop adequate welfare services and tackle subcontracting. This brief points out that the pandemic may constitute a crucial opportunity for a new EU drive to forge more environmentally sustainable and rights compliant agri-food systems.