Britain to restrict new EU migrants Staff and agencies Tuesday September 26, 2006 Guardian Unlimited
Bulgarians and Romanians are unlikely to be granted open access to jobs in the UK, the government said today, hours before formal approval of the two states' accession to the EU was announced. The immigration minister, Liam Byrne, said although a larger EU was good for the British economy, there was still a question mark over whether the new members would enjoy an open-door policy similar to that adopted after the last expansion. He said: "Here we think, actually, there is a case for only very gradual access and we will be thinking through the sorts of controls that are needed over the next month and a half before reporting back to parliament before the end of October." The minister's remarks on GMTV came after the home secretary, John Reid, hinted last week that Romanians and Bulgarians would not be given unlimited rights to work in Britain when they join the EU. In a keynote speech to police officers in Chester, Mr Reid spoke of the need to "manage migration carefully", particularly in relation to the two countries. His words were widely interpreted as paving the way for restrictions on the number of work permits issued to new EU citizens. The approach is in stark contrast to the government's decision to impose no limits on the numbers of Poles and other nationals who were allowed to work here after the previous EU enlargement in May 2004. Other European governments imposed a range of quotas and other restrictions, but the UK, Ireland and Sweden chose to allow unrestricted access to fill labour shortages. The latest figures show that 427,000 people have arrived in Britain from the eight accession countries, including Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic, but the real figure may be closer to 600,000 including self-employed people such as builders. Original estimates put the number of arrivals at just 5,000 to 13,000 a year. The government's "gradual access" proposals came before Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European commission, announced formal approval of Bulgarian and Romanian entry into the union. He warned earlier in the day that the EU could not cope with any more members after the two countries join, until it introduces major changes in decision-making and administration. The new member states will be the poorest members in terms of per capita wealth. Romania's population is 22 million and Bulgaria's 8 million, and both have national wealth levels of less than a third of the EU average. But the prime ministers of both Bulgaria and Romania have sought to counter fears of a flood of cheap labour by arguing that only a few thousand will want to move to Britain, with more likely to choose Italy or Spain. -- ______________ EuroAtlantic Club monitoring Romania's journey towards the EU http://www.europe.org.ro/euroatlantic_club/ mail to: P.O.Box 13-166, Bucharest 011737 e-mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** sustineti [romania_eu_list] prin 2% din impozitul pe 2005 - detalii la http://www.doilasuta.ro *** Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/romania_eu_list/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/romania_eu_list/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
