Britain plans to scrap its open-door policy to east European
workers by restricting the inflow of Bulgarian and Romanian
immigrants when their countries join the European Union, British
newspapers reported Sunday.
Britain was one of three EU members, along with Sweden and
Ireland, that gave unfettered access to workers from eight other
eastern European countries that joined the bloc in 2004.
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The government said in August that more than 400,000 workers from
the eight countries had come to Britain, far higher than official
forecasts that between 5,000 and 13,000 new immigrants would arrive
each year.
That prompted calls from the opposition Conservatives and some
members of the ruling Labor Party for Prime Minister Tony Blair's
government to restrict immigration from Bulgaria and Romania when
they join the bloc in January.
The Observer said Interior Minister John Reid's plans
had not yet been cleared by cabinet colleagues, but he intended to
announce time-limited controls on the right of citizens from
Bulgaria and Romania to work in Britain.
He was expected to say Britain will take a limited number of
unskilled workers from Bulgaria and Romania to do jobs such as
fruit-picking, but will not offer a general right to work, The
Observer said.
The Sunday Times said Reid's plans, to be unveiled this
week, would entail Romanians and Bulgarians having to show they
could fill specific skills gaps before they could work in
Britain.
The move reflected a determination by ministers to end
low-skilled migration to Britain, it said.
Before Reid's new policy, private government research estimated
that between 60,000 and 140,000 Bulgarians and Romanians would
enter Britain following the countries' EU entry, The Sunday
Times said.
It said the new policy would ban "tens of thousands" of
unskilled workers from the two countries from working in
Britain.
The British Government said in August it had introduced a
managed immigration policy, using a points system to match up
skills needed with immigration.
Policymakers say competition from east European workers has
helped keep wage inflation in check, easing the pressure for higher
British interest rates.
But critics say the new immigrants are undercutting wage rates
of British workers, driving down living standards. Romanian Prime
Minister Calin Tariceanu said in a newspaper interview last month
that Romania's accession to the EU would not trigger a surge of
emigration from the country.
(China Daily October 23, 2006)
