Brussels, 10/03/2006 (Agence Europe) - 2006 is European Worker Mobility Year, an ideal time for lifting the transition periods restricting the access of citizens from the new EU Member States to jobs in twelve of the 15 old Member States, explained deputy Czech foreign minister, Vladimir Muller, on Thursday 9 March. The Czech Republic called for an end to transition periods at a conference on the free circulation of workers, organised with ECAS, European Citizen Action Service, which has published a report on the matter. Germany's representative and also, to a lesser extent, Denmark's representative at the conference explained why both Germany and Denmark want to extend the transition measures. Vladimir Spidla, European Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, presented a recent report by the European Commission on the impact of the transitional measures (EUROPE 9127).
I call on Member States to open up their labour markets, said deputy Czech employment and social affairs minister Cestmir Sajda. He said that the transition periods prevented the full functioning of the single market, vital for the Lisbon Strategy but it was clear that Czech citizens have not emigrated en masse to Western Europe in the search of jobs. A Czech government document reveals that in 2005, 17600 Czechs were in official employment in the UK, 5761 in Ireland, 2010 in Germany, 152 in Sweden and 99 in France. Sajda said the Czech Republic was not applying any reciprocal transitional measures against other EU citizens, even in areas of the country where there is high unemployment. The same document shows that 93867 EU and EEA citizens (including more than 75000 Slovaks) were working the Czech Republic at the end of last year. The Czech government figures also show that the rising numbers of foreigners in the Czech Republic were not causing any problems on the Czech labour market.
At the end of March 2006, Germany will probably decide to extend its transitional measures for three years, but will not be closing off its labour market, explained Gerd Andres of the German employment and social affairs ministry. He explained that Germany's transitional measures did not apply to Cyprus or Malta. He described the historical background and the fact that in the 1990s, Germany had made huge efforts to welcome workers from Central and Eastern Europe, but had made it clear that it wanted transitional measures when the EU enlarged. Some Germany Lander have unemployment levels of more than 20%, he added. Andres said the measures were not invented by Germany and were less restrictive (six years rather than seven) than the measures introduced by Member States when Spain, Greece and Portugal joined the EU. He said that among the new Member States, the Czech Republic applies restrictions on land ownership and Hungary is considering transitional measures for when Bulgaria and Romania join the EU.
Danish transitional measures are more not as tight, explained Jonas Bering Liisberg for the Danish employment ministry, because there are no quotas or economic tests and the only condition imposed on workers from new Member States is that they have to have a full-time job. Bering Liisberg said the aim of this was to avoid the creation of a segmented labour market because there is no minimum wage in Denmark. Denmark is carefully monitoring the situation in Sweden, which has a similar labour market. Sweden has not introduced any transitional measures or minimum wage legislation. Bering Liisberg said the Danish authorities would be keeping some measures but aimed to make them more flexible by cutting the red tape surrounding work permits. Depending on the economy, Denmark is considering gradually scrapping its restrictions before the end of 2009.
Vladimir Spidla said reciprocal opening of national labour markets in old and new Member States was the strategy the EU needed. He welcomed the fact the Finnish government decided officially on Wednesday 8 March to lift its transitional measures. Spidla explained that the European Commission was looking at whether workers from new Member States were discriminated against compared with people from countries outside the EU who have been living in the EU for a long time (an issue raised on several occasions during the conference). Directive 2003/109/EC came into force on 31 January 2006, authorising people from outside the EU who have been living in the EU for many years to work anywhere in the EU.