Talk:Freedom of movement for workers

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[edit] Bulgaria and Romania

There are question marks in their boxes, not because it is not sure that they will join in 2007, but because they have not yet voiced their official position - if they will follow the "reciprocal" path of Hungary, etc., or will open their domestic markets regardless of the situation in the other states. Alinor 18:03, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

update [1]: "No other new member state has so far taken a similar step as Budapest has towards future Balkan job seekers, with Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania having all stated that they would open their labour markets.

Of the "old" EU countries Sweden and Finland will also put no restrictions in place while Spain, Greece, the UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Austria, the Netherlands and Denmark announced they would introduce quotas or other work-permit systems." Alinor 12:58, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Update

This article needs to be updated to reflect Romania and Bulgaria's accession, and the various policies adopted towards those countries' nationals. This BBC article would be a good starting point, but the table is a bit complex for my editing skills. Cordless Larry 14:16, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

I colored all of 2006 in green. I colored everything with a question mark behind it in yellow, because we need to find out more about those countries. I saw your article and it was helpful in some ways. It would be nice if the BBC would realize that the EU has added some new members since 2004 and provide the same information for those countries. Thanks, (Eddie 00:26, 14 April 2007 (UTC))
No, 2006 should not be colored green - read the agenda describing the coloring below the table - green is for situations with no "transitional period after accession", yellow - for period of 2 years (2004->2006, 2007->2009), orange - for period of 2+3 years (2004->2009, 2007->2012), red - for period of 2+3+2 years (2004->2011, 2007->2014). 91.92.176.188 14:55, 1 May 2007 (UTC)
Wouldn't it be more useful to show citizens of which countries can work in which countries as of today? I mean it is a good idea to indicate whether or not there was a transitition period, but the focus should be on what the title suggests: freedom of movement for workers. And still if we color all 2006 in green, the year (2006 in this case) will remain there which will show when the transition ended. We could also include a simple list of dates when each country joined the EU so that all confusion will be avoided. What do you think? (Eddie 21:38, 4 May 2007 (UTC))

[edit] Slovenia

This needs to be updated, as Slovenia cancelled its reciprocal measures against member states that have introduced limitations a while ago. edolen1 18:29, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

I believe you but could you also provide a source for that? Also, we need some additional sources for our table because the BBC one is getting outdated and it only gives the info for half of the countries. Thanks, (Eddie 21:40, 4 May 2007 (UTC))
Here we go [2] edolen1 23:25, 4 May 2007 (UTC)


Is it possible for somebody to check and correct the article for spelling mistakes and errors in grammar? It seems to be very badly written.

[edit] December 2007 Update

[edit] Second Phase for countries joined in 2004

As required by the Accession Treaty, the Commission drafted a report on the first phase of the transitional arrangements. This was submitted to the Council on 8 February 2006.

Following the Council's review of the Commission's report, EU-15 Member States had until 30 April 2006 to notify the Commission as to their intentions for the second phase.

Currently, ten of the EU-15 Member States have opened their labour markets completely: the United Kingdom, Ireland and Sweden had already opened their labour markets during the first phase. They were followed by Spain, Finland, Greece and Portugal as of 1 May 2006 and, as of 27 July 2006, by Italy. The Netherlands lifted all restrictions from 1 May 2007 and Luxembourg from 1 November 2007. The United Kingdom continues its mandatory registration scheme, and in Finland employment must subsequently be registered for monitoring purposes.

Most of the EU-15 Member States that have maintained restrictions have simplified their procedures or have reduced restrictions in some sectors/professions (Belgium, France, Denmark and – as of 1 November 2007 – Germany). The Royal decree adopted in Belgium for the second phase of the transitional arrangements specifically provides that the restrictions could be lifted before the formal end of the second phase if certain conditions (notably in the form of enforcement measures) are met.

Germany and Austria also maintain national measures in relation to the cross-border provision of services.

Finally, Hungary still applies reciprocal measures. Slovenia ceased to apply reciprocity on 25 May 2006 and Poland on 17 January 2007

None of the EU-8 Member States have thus far resorted to the safeguard procedure, which would mean that EC law on free moment of workers continues to apply among the EU-8 Member States.

[edit] First Phase for countries joined in 2007

During the first phase, ten EU-25 Member States (Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden) have liberalised access of Bulgarian and Romanian workers to their labour markets under national law. In Finland, Cyprus and Slovenia, employment must subsequently be registered for monitoring purposes.

The remaining EU-25 Member States have maintained work permit systems, albeit sometimes with modifications and simplified procedures:

For instance, Denmark issues work permits for work of at least 30 hours/week and that is governed by a collective labour agreement or complies with normal standards for the sector/profession. Where employers have prior approval, workers may start work upon registration of employment with the Immigration Service without first obtaining a work permit. Malta grants work permits for positions that require qualified and/or experienced workers and for those occupations for which there is a shortage of workers. In Greece, a work permit will be issued if an employer cannot fill the vacant post with another EU citizen.

France, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg and Belgium have maintained the work permit requirement: France applies a simplified procedure for 61 occupations, and Hungary for 245 occupations, where a work permit is issued without considering the job situation or without a labour market review. Luxembourg has introduced simplified procedures for work in agriculture, viticulture, the hotel and catering sector and for people with specific qualifications for which there is a need in the financial sector. Belgium has introduced an accelerated procedure of issuing work permit within 5 days for jobs in professions for which there is a labour shortage.

Italy does not require a work permit for employment in certain sectors (agriculture, hotel and tourism, domestic work, care services, construction, engineering, managerial and highly skilled work, seasonal work).

In the United Kingdom, the employer must apply for a work permit (except for certain categories of employment) and the worker must apply for an "Accession worker card". Low-skilled workers are restricted to existing quota schemes in the agricultural and food processing sectors, skilled workers can work if they qualify for a work permit, or under the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme. In the Netherlands, a work permit will be issued whenever there are no workers available in the Netherlands or other EU Member States and the employer concerned can offer proper working conditions and accommodation. Temporary exemptions may be granted for sectors in which there is a labour shortage. Spain, Portugal and Ireland also require work permits: in Spain, the issuing of a work permit is directly linked to obtaining a job offer and approval of an application by the employer.

In addition to maintaining a work permit requirement, Austria and Germany also apply restrictions on the posting of workers in certain sectors.

Bulgaria and Romania have decided not to restrict access to their labour markets for EU nationals from those EU-25 Member States which apply restrictions for Bulgarian and Romanian workers.

Source: http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/free_movement/enlargement_en.htm Cheers, (74.134.124.3 (talk) 21:15, 16 December 2007 (UTC))