Free movement of labour in the EU-27[fr][de] 

In an attempt to address the complex implications of the EU's 2004 enlargement, several member states from the EU-15 introduced 'transitional restrictions' on the movement of the labour force from the new member states. Two and a half years into the transitional period, the old member states remain split over easing access to their labour markets by Central and Eastern Europeans.

Free movement of persons is one of the fundamental freedoms guaranteed by community law (Article 39 of the EC Treaty) and is also an essential element of European citizenship. Community rules on free movement of workers also apply to member states of the European Economic Area (ie to Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway). The relevant rights are complemented by a system for the co-ordination of social security schemes and by a system to ensure the mutual recognition of diplomas. 

The Accession Treaty allows for the introduction of ‘transitional measures.’ Commonly referred to in EU circles as the ‘2+3+2-year arrangement’, this scheme obliges the member states to declare themselves in May 2006, and again in May 2009, on whether they will open up their labour markets for workers from the EU-8 (Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia) or keep restrictions in place. The restrictions will definitely end on 30 April 2011. A similar '2+3+2' scheme is in place with respect to workers from Romania and Bulgaria, which joined the EU on 1 January 2007. 

The Commission’s February 2006 report said that very few citizens from the new member states were actually moving to the EU-15 countries. According to the report, EU-10 citizens represented less than one percent of the working age population in all old EU member states except Austria (1.4%) and Ireland (3.8%). 

The policies relating to the free movement of workers from the EU-8 within the EU-15 states could be classified into four categories: 

• Keeping the restrictions in place for at least three more years (ie until 2009): Austria and Germany
• Lifting the restrictions gradually, within the next three years (ie until 2009): Belgium, Denmark, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands
• Keeping labour markets open / removing restrictions: Finland, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom 

With respect to the 1 January 2007 enlargement, which brought Romania and Bulgaria into the EU, many former EU member states are more reluctant to open their labour markets. All EU-15 countries with the exception of Sweden and Finland decided to restrict Bulgarians' and Romanians' access to their labour market. Italy considers allowing Romanians an Bulgarians in once a European agreement on combating organised crime is found, and France announced that it will inlcude workers from the two countries into its schme of sectorial barrier-lifting. All EU-10 decided to open their labour markets - with the exception of Malta, which contricts access, and of Hungary, which imposes some conditions. 

Austria

Citing “pessimistic” labour market forecasts, Vienna continues applying the restrictions for at least until 2009. “We do not have particularly high levels of unemployment, but the long-term forecast is not good,” Austrian Labour Minister Martin Bartenstein has said. 

Germany 

The government of Germany has decided to continue the transition period for EU-8 workers for another three years, until 2009. On 22 October 2006, the country decided to also curb Bulgarian and Romanian workers' access to its labour market. One main reason cited by Berlin is high unemployment, especially in the federal states bordering the Czech Republic and Poland. 

On 25 April 2008, the Conservative-Social Democrat government majority said it aimed at maintaining barriers for Central and Eastern European workers until 2011. The Commission responded by recalling that in order to maintain the transitory measures beyond 2009, Germany must prove "severe distortions of its labour market, beyond mere unemployment". 

Belgium 

The Belgian government, saddled with unemployment exceeding 8%, keeps sectoral restrictions on free labour movement after 1 May 2006. In the words of Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, “a number of countries have already opened their borders. A number of others we know of are going to decide in the coming days and weeks whether to keep their borders closed for another three years. We’re not doing one or the other.” 

Denmark 

Denmark will ease the restrictions after 1 May 2006, but some form of transitional arrangement is likely to be kept in place. “From 1 May 2009, Denmark will probably not need transitional arrangements,” Euro-reporters quoted a Danish Ministry of Employment official as saying. 

France 

In early March 2006, France’s government decided on a “step-by-step controlled lifting of the restrictions” on the free movement of labour from the EU-8 countries. The partial opening of the French labour market will start with sectors where labour is in short supply (eg social and health care, hotels and catering, transport and construction). In December 2006, France decided to include Romanian anb Bulgarian workers in the scheme on the same terms. The country’s social partners are mostly in favour of the immediate lifting of the restrictions, notwithstanding France’s 9.6% unemployment rate. Some 20% of the jobless are in the 18-25 age group. 

Netherlands 

As a first step to slowly phase out restrictions, the Dutch governement opened, on 17 September 2006, 16 sectors of its labour market to workers from the EU-8 states. The decision concerns sectors where workers are scarce or where there has been a high percentage of illegal workers. In a letter  to the Dutch Parliament, Secretary of State H.A.L van Hoof wrote that the country will consecutively drop barriers also in other sectors, adding that once all sectors have been liberalised, the country might even drop its work permit scheme altogether. (See EurActiv, 18 September 2006)

Italy 

In July 2006, two months after it was sworn in, Italy's centre-left governemnt, led by former Commission President Romano Prodi, took the decision to end the transitory measures. At the same time, the Italian Council of Ministers passed a decree granting legal status to a total of 517,000 immigrants, most of which could not apply for a residence permit as a result of a quota imposed by the former centre-right wing government led by media magnate Silvio Berlusconi.

United Kingdom

The country was, toghether with Sweden and Ireland, the only one not to impose transitional measures on EU-8 workers in the first place. Its open-borders policy led to an estimated labour immigration of 450.000 to 600.000 within the two-and-a-half years following the May 2004 enlargement; this amounts to about 30-fold of what was previously expected. In spite of the undoubtedly positive impact that the immigration of EU-8 workers has had on the British economy, the UK government decided on 24 October 2006 not to apply a similarly liberal scheme to Romanian and Bulgarian job-seekers (See EurActiv, 25 October 2006). Under the scheme announced, only a few experts and 20,000 unskilled workers for the food processing and agriculture industries will be allowed into Britain. 

Ireland

Arguing that, following the UK decision to impose transitional measures on workers from Bulgaria and Romania, it did not really have a choice, Ireland imposed similar measures, albeit without any exceptions, on the same day. Prior to that, Ireland had accomodated around 80,000 workers, mainly from Poland. The Irish Economic and Social Research Institute says that the country needs an influx of around 50,000 workers a year to continue growing at the present high pace, but the Irish government argues that the EU-8 provide a "sufficient supply". 

Next enlargement wave - Turkey in focus

Turkey is home to 70 million people. If and when it becomes a member of the EU, the country will be second only to Germany in terms of the size of its population. Turkey itself has almost the same number of citizens as the ten new member states combined. The labour market implications of the EU's current enlargement, along with the conclusions reached from the current transition period, will certainly have a bearing on the way the EU will function at 28+ members.

The articles below analyse likely scenarios for Turkey's labour market in the context of the country's prospective EU membership:

• Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS): Growth and immigration scenarios for Turkey and the EU (December 2004)
• Migration Information Source:    Turkey: A Transformation from Emigration to Immigration (November 2003)
• International Herald Tribune:  In enlarged EU, a need for immigration (May 2004)
• CPB Netherlands' Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis:  Assessing the economic implications of Turkish accession to the EU (March 2004)  

The European Citizen Action Service (ECAS) was among the first to compile an overview of the 'transition measures' introduced by the national governments. ECAS has also drafted a series of recommendations to both the European institutions and national governments.

Former Competition Commissioner Mario Monti, now chairman of ECAS, has said that transitional restrictions should be "phased out as soon as possible". “There has been no influx to justify them and the unexpected proliferation of complex national quotas and qualitative restrictions undermines the Lisbon strategy for flexible markets and a skilled, mobile labour force," he said.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has said that the migratory impact of enlargement is likely to be "less dramatic" than projected. In fact, IOM believes that the new member states themselves are bound to become the main targets for immigrants, considering these countries' "increased economic convergence, growth and improved living standards".

"Free movement of workers […] has not had disruptive effects on the EU-15 labour market. Quite the contrary - individual countries, and Europe as a whole, have benefited from it," Employment Commissioner Vladimir Spidla has said. In Spidla’s opinion, free movement of labour is more important than any of the other EU freedoms.

"Free movement of workers is one of the main pillars of the EU free market. Restrictions are incompatible with the Lisbon strategy. That's why we have argued for full free movement since the beginning of accession talks. This is the only way to achieve a competitive and innovative Europe," Czech Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Müller has said. 

The Commission’s February report “does not take into account the effect of transition periods,” said Germany’s State Secretary for Employment Gerd Andres. “Also the geographical position is very different for Germany and Austria than it is for France or the UK.”