Following the so called 'big bang' enlargement of the European Union on May 1 2004, existing member states were divided over how far to open their doors to workers from the eight former communist states which joined the EU.
Most "old" member states kept their doors shut to potential cheap labour from these new members. But a report of the European Commission, released on February 8, shows that the three countries which did not set up restrictions – United Kingdom, Ireland and Sweden – have had faster growth; the 12 either saw no effects or negatives one, notably more undeclared workers. The three’s openness may not be the cause of their better performance, but it has not damaged them either.
While the Commission stops short of making a specific recommendation to the 12 EU states with transition arrangements in place, the report makes its position clear. Free movement of workers is seen as economically valuable and as one of the key principles on which the European treaties are based.
The Commission said east-west migration was determined by supply and demand rather than by old Europe’s restrictions on workers from the eight new member states in Eastern Europe. ‘I recommend to carefully consider whether there is a need to maintain the transitional arrangements in the light of their labour market development’, Commissioner Spidla said after publishing the report.
According to Mr. Spidla, a former prime minister of the Czech Republic (one of the 8 former communist states), new workers from the lower wage Eastern countries have helped relieve shortages in the West. A Commission official reacted, that Spidla was probably speaking about the hundreds of thousands Eastern European workers employed illegally in the EU.
Austria and Germany which border several new member states, insist they will keep restrictions for at least three more years. Michael Glos, German minister for economical affairs, said ‘restriction is a necessary buffer to protect our employment market. We can’t do without it’.
Many politicians in France and The Netherlands have interpreted the defeat of the European Constitution in referendums last year as backlash against economic liberalism and believe that a more social Europe has to be high on the EU agenda. For these member states this is another reason not to change their policy of restricted access.
A recent survey made on behalf of the Dutch government shows that opening the borders for influx of low wage Eastern European workers will boost the high unemployment rate of low-educated Dutch young people of Moroccan, Turkish or Netherlands’ Antillian origin.
It doesn’t seem as though other member states of old Europe will ditch the restrictions two years after the big bang either. The expectations are that only Finland, Spain and, perhaps, Greece will do so.
