Four EU states open doors to Bulgarian, Romanian workers
By Andrew Gardner
08.01.2009 / 15:06 CET
Denmark to follow suit in May; restrictions lifted in more than half of EU countries.
Four EU countries – Greece, Spain, Hungary and Portugal – today opened up their labour markets to workers from Bulgaria and Romania, and a fifth – Denmark – has announced that it plans to follow suit on 1 May.
Fourteen EU states, excluding Denmark, that have now given Bulgarians and Romanians the same right to work as other EU citizens enjoy.
However, the 11 countries that continue to restrict their movements include the five states with Europe's largest economies: France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.
Workers go to where there is demand for labour, not to be unemployed in another country
Citing fears about a wave of immigration, EU member states secured the right to prevent Bulgarians and Romanians from working freely within the borders under the terms of agreements with the two countries ahead of their accession to the EU in January 2007.
The countries that immediately waived their right to use these ‘transitional restrictions' were the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Finland Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia and Sweden.
All EU states must open their labour markets to Bulgarians and Romanians by the end of 2013, but, if they choose to limit access after 2011, they have to justify their decision by providing evidence that ending the restrictions would expose their labour markets to “serious disturbance”.
A European Commission report published last November concluded that concerns about the overall economic impact of migration from new member states had been positive and had not disturbed labour markets seriously.
Vladimír Špidla, the European commissioner for employment, today urged national governments to free up their markets and argued that the economic recession is not a reason to maintain them.
“Workers go to where there is demand for labour, not to be unemployed in another country,” Špidla said.
Most of Europe's large economies have programmes that allow Bulgarians and Romanians to work in particular seasons of the year, in particular sectors or if they have a particular set of skills.
Four EU states – Austria, Belgium, Denmark and Germany – still impose restrictions on citizens from some or all of the eight formerly communist states that joined the EU in 2004. Denmark will drop those constraints at the same time as it opens its borders to Romanians and Bulgarians, this May.
