Brussels, 20/12/2000 (Agence Europe) - The German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder expressed the idea according to which the free movement of people (and, notably, of workers) from the candidate countries should be restrained during a transitional period of at least seven years after accession of the new Member States. We have known for a long time that Germany (as well as Austria) intend to call for transition periods for the sensitive issue, in order to protect their labour markets (notably in the border regions) against the excessive flow of labour forces from the East. Though it is the first time that the German government has specified its ideas as to the possible duration of the transition period wanted. "Given the high number of 3.8 million people without work, the potential welcome on the German labour market would be considerably limited for a still long period", said Mr Schröder is a speech made on Monday in Weiden, close to the Czech border. From where the need to negotiate with the candidate countries transition period that, according to the Chancellor, should be applied with flexibility" so as to take into account both the true migratory intentions in the new countries, and the needs of the Member States in additional labour. Thus, according to the German proposal, they should notably foresee the possibility of shortening the transition period from seven to five years (for all or some of the candidate countries) if the migratory pressure shows itself to be less serious than expected. Furthermore, in case of a shortage in qualified labour in the Member States, they would have the possibility of granting - during a transition period - limited and controlled access to workers in the sectors concerned.
Several candidate countries, notably Poland, have rejected the German proposal, reiterating their official position according to which the free movement of people is part of the Community acquis that should be fully applied with accession. "Our negotiating position is that access to the European Union's labour market should take place at the time of accession", said the Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek.
The Commission spokesperson said, on Tuesday, that the statements by Mr Schröder form a "very useful contribution" in the preparation of a dossier that will be part of the Swedish EU Presidency agenda for the accession negotiations during the first quarter 2001. The Commission notably welcomes the fact that the German proposal foresees the necessary "flexibility" in the application of transitional measure, and that it is not the case of an "extreme and brutal" approach that targets all the candidates, without differentiating between them and without taking into account the labour needs in certain sectors of the Member countries labour markets. In the diplomatic circles in Brussels, even a duration of seven years (for the transition period) is considered as being "reasonable". The Commission is preparing a draft common positions on this issue for next spring.