There are two options to get Blue Card. One is education, but second is professional work for I think 10 years above certain threshold salary (very low threshold for IT, even by EU means). So that 15 YOE IT engineer can certainly apply and get Blue Card. The only nuance is that it needs to be full employment, self employment doesn't count or is problematic iirc.

EU citizens always had an option to come and work so work visas only apply for non-EU. Also, the debate in Germany is mostly about asylum seekers and not skilled migration. I haven't heard the thesis "less people, more pay" but instead "more workers, more taxes". https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAGerman/comments/178iy0w/questio...

As per by neighbor: "Not the semiconductor industry. We are looking for qualified engineers everywhere. I don't see this having any impact on salaries."