France, Germany and other members of ”old Europe” were urged on Wednesday to throw open their borders to migrant workers as figures showed that Eastern European workers were contributing to high economic growth.
The European Commission called on Berlin and Paris to follow the example of Britain, Ireland and Sweden, which granted free movement to workers from the new members of the European Union.
Vladimir Spidla, the former Czech prime minister who is now the European employment commissioner, said: ”Free movement of workers is economically rational and is enshrined in EU treaties. We have not seen any catastrophic tendencies since enlargement.”
Spidla was speaking at the launch of a European Commission report on the impact of workers from the eight Eastern European countries that joined the EU in May 2004. Malta and Cyprus, which joined the EU at the same time, are not included as they face no labour limits.
Most of the states that have been in the EU for a longer time — 12 of the 15 — decided to impose restrictions on migrants from the new member states amid fears that such workers would undercut the wages demanded by the domestic workforce. Germany has granted 500 000 work permits with time limits; The Netherlands allowed in 24 400 workers in 2004.
Imposing restrictions led to ”undesirable side-effects, such as higher levels of undeclared work”, as well as ”bogus self-employed work”, the report said. By contrast, Britain, the Republic of Ireland and Sweden, which opened their borders, saw ”a drop in unemployment, a rise in employment and high economic growth”, Spidla said.
Britain allowed in 292 000 workers, the Republic of Ireland accepted 160 000 and Sweden 8 000.
Critics of Spidla said that the strong economic growth in the three countries pre-dated the 2004 EU enlargement.
Under the rules governing the new countries’ entry to the EU, the 12 ”old” EU members must decide by the end of April whether to keep the limits. If they decide to lift them, they will have the right to reimpose them until April 2011, at which point borders must be opened for good.
France, Germany, Italy and Austria, where growth is sluggish, are expected to keep the restrictions. Finland and Spain are considering lifting the restrictions.
The commission report pleaded with the ”old” EU members to look east to fill labour shortages and boost tax revenues by formalising the status of migrant workers who tried to get work illegally. Eastern Europeans ”positively contribute to the overall labour market performance, to sustained economic growth and to better public finances”, the report said.
The eight new Eastern and Central European EU members are the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland and Slovenia. Their combined population is about 75-million within the EU’s total of 454-million.
Britain on Wednesday night welcomed the report. A government spokesperson said: ”Contrary to concerns … that the United Kingdom’s labour market would suffer from a flood of migrant workers from Eastern Europe, [the] report shows that the UK has benefited from opening its labour markets.”
The report comes as the ”Polish plumber row” resurfaces. The European Parliament will next week vote on an amended version of a directive that would allow skilled workers to set up shop in other EU countries under the laws of their home country. — Guardian Unlimited Â