"Despite unemployment, there is also a lack of skills today in the EU that we cannot find within the European Union and we need to look elsewhere," she said.
On Thursday, EU justice and interior affairs ministers discussed, among other things, the annual report on migration and asylum and the Lithuanian EU presidency's objectives.
"We can conclude during the Lithuanian presidency negotiations on the seasonal workers' directive, make progress on the facilitation for researchers and students," the commissioner said.
"We also emphasized from the Commission side that migration, when it's well-managed, is a very important source of growth," Malmstrom said.
The proposed EU seasonal workers' directive would stipulate conditions of entry and residence of seasonal workers.
