Обзор, диференциращ отношението на страните от ЕС към свободата на движение

06.04.2006 – 09:58 CET | By Lucia Kubosova
UK interior minister Charles Clarke has indicated Britain may not open its labour market to workers from Bulgaria and Romania directly after the two countries' planned entry to the EU in 2007.

During this week's visit to both countries, Mr Clarke confirmed full support for their EU membership and praised the positive input of migrant workers from central and eastern Europe to the British economy.

"We think it helped our economy and helped in various sectors of the labour market," he said, according to the Financial Times.

"But it is not true that we will automatically do with Romania and Bulgaria what we did [with the eight previous newcomers]," he added.

Britain is one of three "old" EU member states – along with Ireland and Sweden – that allowed full access to workers from eight central and east European countries that joined the EU in 2004.

The other western governments opted to apply temporary restrictions which, in the case of Germany and Austria, could last until 2011.

Spain, Finland and Portugal have confirmed they will drop the barriers this May, with the Dutch cabinet also proposing such a move although the country's parliament may not support it.

The European Commission recently urged "old" member states to lift their national restrictions, arguing the enlargement has not resulted in an unbearable inflow of new workers or increased unemployment among home citizens.

MEPs adopted a resolution on Thursday (5 April) with the same message, arguing the migration from new EU countries was "improving industrial competitiveness, reducing undeclared work, helping to raise economic growth rates and create more new jobs, and generating higher tax revenue for the host countries' budgets."

New debate looming
However, the discussion on the potential opening of the labour markets to the workers from new member states has so far been exclusively linked to eight countries from central and eastern Europe, and not to Bulgaria and Romania.

EU governments will decide in the coming months what kind of approach they will take towards the two newcomers with a combined population of 30 million.

Czech prime minister Zdenek Skromach has hinted Prague might consider introducing restrictions against Sofia and Bucharest if the "old" member states keep their barriers against the eight countries from central and eastern Europe.

The decision in the UK and Ireland may be influenced by recent surveys indicating the negative popular sentiments on the issue.

An April poll by a UK think tank Migration Watch showed that around 76% respondents agreed there must be an annual limit to the number of immigrants allowed to come to Britain.

In January, a survey by the Irish Times showed 78 percent of respondents suggested that work permits for workers from new EU member states should be re-introduced.

Britain and Ireland have seen the highest number of economic migrants from central and eastern Europe.

The UK government estimates that about 300,000 new EU citizens found work in Britain in the period up to the end of 2005 and are contributing about €715 million a year to the economy.