The European Commission has made no proposal to prevent the free movement of labour between new and old EU member states for a transitional period after EU enlargement, commission spokesman Mr Reijo Kemppinen has said.
He was denying a report in the Frankfurter Allegemeine Zeitungnewspaper today that a commission internal working document proposes a four-year transition period before workers and people from new member states can move freely into the old EU countries.
He said a working document sets out options but makes no proposals.
The options include alternatives such as having no transitional period at all, using the existing EU treaty clauses on free movement, "some kind of fixed quotas", and a "flexible, optional system or transitional arrangement", he said.
While there are "different alternatives" there are "no preferences" and the paper "does not propose any transitional periods at this stage," he said. AFP