Older EU Members Urged To Lift Restrictions On Workers From New Member States

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

28 October 2005

A discussion paper published this week has urged older EU member states to open up their labour markets to workers from their newer, predominantly Eastern European counterparts.

The report, written by Patrick Weil of Paris' National Center for Scientific Research, argues that in the three countries which have already taken the plunge, namely the UK, Ireland and Sweden, the results have been "both manageable and beneficial".

Pointing out that in Sweden between May and December 2004 the active population increased by just 0.7% as a result of new workers entering the country, Mr Weil argued that:

"The countries who continue to close their labour markets find themselves in a counterproductive situation, with new European citizens immigrating anyway and working illegally."

He went on to add that:

"At the very least, all restrictions on new European citizens with a university degree should be removed."

The older EU members have until April 2006 to decide whether to extend their transition periods until 2009.

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