Brussels, 24/04/2006 (Agence Europe) - The Brussels editorial office of the European magazine Café Babel (cafebabel.com) is hosting a Manneken Babel debate on 27 April on 'Let the plumber in! - A debate about workers' mobility', attended by MEP Csaba Ory (EPP-ED, Hungary) and Jeroen Dubois, a researcher at the College of Europe. Following the 1 May 2004 EU enlargement and the opening of borders to workers from 8 countries in central and Eastern Europe, only the United Kingdom, Ireland and Sweden immediately opened their job markets to workers from the new Member States, with the other old Member States taking transitional measures to delay the free circulation of workers from the new Member States. On 8 February 2006 (see EUROPE 9127), the European Commission published a report calling for full opening of labour markets and Member States have until the end of this month to decide whether or not to maintain their transitional restrictions for a while longer. Finland, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands have already announced that they will be opening up their labour markets as from 1 May 2006. France will gradually lift restrictions. Luxembourg, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Italy and Denmark will retain their transitional restrictions for three more years. Three new Member States (Hungary, Poland and Slovenia) have introduced restrictions on the movement of workers and also have to decide by 1 May whether to extend these restrictions for three years. (Info: presse.bruxelles@cafebabel.com)