European Diary Denis StauntonIreland and Britain are isolated in Europe again but this time, the two countries are alone in upholding one of the EU's four basic freedoms - the free movement of persons. When 10 new countries join the EU on May 1st, their citizens will gain the right to work in Britain and Ireland but in none of the other 13 current member-states.
When enlargement negotiations were completed in December 2002, it was agreed that member-states could apply national rules to regulate immigration from the new member-states for a period of two years after accession. After that, countries could use a "transitional arrangement" to restrict immigration for a further five years, delaying the requirement to offer full freedom of movement to workers for up to seven years after the new member-states join the EU.
Germany and Austria, the two countries closest to the new member-states, made clear immediately that they would make use of the full, seven-year transition period. Five countries - Ireland, Britain, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands - announced that they would welcome workers from the new member-states from May 1st.
During the past two months, however, three of those countries have drawn back from their promise, leaving Britain and Ireland as the only member-states willing to open their doors to the East.
Denmark was the first country to have second thoughts, announcing last December that permission to live and work in Denmark would only be granted to people employed in jobs paid according to a tariff system of minimum salaries. Job-seekers from the new member-states would have no automatic access to the Danish social security system and the employment minister, Mr Claus Hjort Frederiksen, promised that enlargement would not lead to an influx of cheap labour.
"EU enlargement will not lead to a lowering of salaries. Companies can benefit from access to labour from the new member-states and we can all celebrate that Danish social security schemes are fenced", he said.
The Netherlands announced on January 23rd that a maximum of 22,000 workers from the new member-states would be admitted during the first year after enlargement.
Last Friday, Sweden's Prime Minister, Mr Göran Persson, said that his government would introduce restrictions to ensure that workers from the new member-states would not overburden Sweden's social welfare system.
"We would be naïve if we didn't see the risks, if we were to be the only country welcoming people from east Europe to work for peanuts and giving them access to our social benefits," he said.
The European Commission said yesterday that most member-states had yet to inform Brussels about their intentions but Britain and Ireland are unlikely to be joined by others in giving an unqualified welcome to our new partners. The Commission believes that, on the basis of the experience of previous enlargements, there is unlikely to be a massive influx of jobseekers travelling west from the new member-states.
The Government says it has no intention of backing away from its commitment to treat workers from the new member-states in the same way as those from, say, France or Germany, are treated. Forty per cent of the work permits issued to non-EU citizens last year went to people from the new member-states and the Department of Enterprise and Employment believes that, from now on, the bulk of Ireland's labour needs will be fulfilled from within an enlarged EU.
If the labour market conditions change, the Government will be able to introduce restrictions but, for now, Ireland and Britain remain the only member-states willing to make the EU's new citizens feel at home from the day they join the Union.