Brussels, 05/04/2006 (Agence Europe) - Adopting the report by Csaba Öry (PPE-DE, Hungary) on the free movement of workers on 5 April, the European Parliament demanded that the transitional measures applied to restrict access for workers from eight new Member States to the labour markets of the older Member States be abolished (see EUROPE 9162). It invites the Member States which choose to extend these measures to do so on the basis of an in-depth analysis of the threats to their labour markets, and to create conditions in the period 2006-2009 to allow this scheme to be abandoned after 2009. Workers from the new Member States should not be victims of discrimination as compared with workers from third countries (see EUROPE 9166), the Parliament insists, deeming it appropriate to ensure that labour law is strictly respected such as to guarantee equality of treatment for all workers within the EU. The Parliament is calling for standardised statistics on intra-Community migration and a public information campaign by January 2009 at the latest, so that citizens are better informed on the consequences of the free movement of workers in the EU.
In a press release, the French socialists explain their desire for an end to the transitional arrangements put in place since the enlargement of 2004. “It is scandalous to see that the free movement of persons still does not exist, while that freedom of movement already exists for capital, goods and services”, says Harlem Désir. And Jean-Louis Cottigny adds: “We are open to the workers of Europe, there are no second zone citizens. However, we must ensure that social rules are properly applied, so that the first beneficiaries do not become the first victims”.
We would recall that the UK, Ireland and Sweden immediately opened their labour markets up from 1 May 2004; Finland, Spain, the Netherlands and Portugal have announced the opening of their markets from 1 May 2006; Austria, Denmark, Italy, Germany and Belgium are maintaining their restrictions and France will proceed with a “gradual and controlled lifting” of the restrictions (see other news item).