POLICY PAPER

Policy Paper

Policy Paper

Brief Introduction

This paper comprises four sections: the first one tries to define the fundamental right of free movement and briefly show the way it was applied in the past. The second section analyzes the phases of the transitional restrictions on new EU member states citizens on the EU-15 member states' labour market. The last two sections are devoted to EU officials' positions on transitional period for the new member states workers and to some recommendations for allowing them to work without restrictions in all EU member states.

1. Transitional measures for new member states citizens

The free movement of workers is a fundamental right which permits nationals of one EU Member State to work in another EU Member State under the same conditions as that Member State's own citizens. Despite of this freedom the old member states have been granted the right to limit immigration from Eastern Europe for up to seven years

due to the fact that the competitive pressure on the labour market for low-qualified workers in the existing EU was considered too high and migration would have been concentrated on certain countries, In the past, during the gradual introduction of the free movement of workers at the Common Market's establishment, diplomats worried about massive flows from Italy to the other five founding countries. The sentiment recurred at the respective 2 admissions of Greece in 1981 and of Portugal and Spain in 19861, when the introduction of free movement with these labour-sending countries was expected to instigate large migration flows2. In none of those cases did these fears materialize after free movement was introduced, since this particular EU provision has never stimulated nor supported large-scale labour migration. The EU's extensive experience4 with the introduction of free movement indicates complementing the many political and economic research publications addressing the issue with a historical approach.

Current member states are free to apply national measures restricting the new European Union members nationals from working in their territories for the first two years after accession.

During a transitional period of up to 7 years after accession of 10 member states to the EU on 1 May 2004 (Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia) and of 2 member states on 1 January 2007 (Bulgaria, Romania), certain conditions may be applied that restrict the free movement of workers from, to and between these Member States. These restrictions only concern the freedom of movement for the purpose of taking up a job and they may differ from one member state to another.

Two years after new members' integration, the old member states must decide whether they wish to either grant free movement of workers, or continue to apply national measures for a further three year period. After this period, restrictions can be prolonged for a maximum of two more years. Current member states who permit free movement of workers for CEEC nationals are free to impose or re-impose restrictions in the first two years after accession. For five years after that date, a member ...