Nine EU states have lifted work restrictions on Romanians and Bulgarians, stoking fears in some countries of a huge influx of migrants seeking jobs and state benefits. EU and Romanian and Bulgarian officials insist there will be no such surge, however, and have denounced populist rhetoric from some politicians and newspapers – particularly in Britain – about the impending arrival of hordes of low-skilled workers, pickpockets and welfare cheats.
The two Balkan states joined the EU in 2007, but until yesterday their citizens had limited access to jobs and benefits such as healthcare in nine member states, including Britain, Germany, France and Spain. Ireland lifted restrictions in 2012.
With anti-immigration parties poised to perform strongly in elections to the European Parliament this year, governments have come under pressure to explain how weak job markets and strained welfare systems could cope with a large number of new arrivals from eastern Europe.
In Britain, UK Independence Party criticism has prompted prime minister David Cameron to rush through plans to prevent Romanians and Bulgarians receiving unemployment benefits for their first three months in Britain.
Britain’s increasingly shrill debate on migration, accompanied by often crude tabloid headlines, has drawn condemnation from Bulgaria, Romania and Brussels. Bulgaria’s president Rosen Plevneliev said recently that Mr Cameron’s immigration policies risked “a switch to isolation, nationalism and short-term political approaches . . . Isolating Britain and damaging Britain’s reputation is not the right history to write.”
Romania’s foreign minister Titus Corlatean said: “The benefits are much more substantial than the risks mentioned by the xenophobic and populist politicians in the UK about the so-called migration. Romanians who wanted to leave, they left even before we joined the EU . . . They went to Italy and Spain; we are Latin and it’s easier to speak the language and integrate.”
Studies have shown that most migrant workers from eastern Europe contribute more in taxes to their host countries’ economies than they take out in benefits or healthcare.
“There are over three million people from Bulgaria and Romania already living in other member states and it is unlikely that there will be any major increase following the ending of the final restrictions,” the EU commissioner for employment, Laszlo Andor, said. “Mobile workers complement host country workers by helping to address skills gaps and labour shortages,” he added.
Germany’s strong economy is expected to attract migrants from the Balkans. Aydan Özoguz, German state secretary for migration, has urged politicians not to “incite the mood in our society against the poor with false generalisations”.
“Those who act as if all people from Bulgaria and Romania were poor and queuing up here for benefits aren’t recognising the many highly qualified people working here, for example as doctors or care-givers,” she said.
