01/11/2006 12:34:33 pm
Falling, One By One... It seems that the ghost of labour mobility restrictions is haunting Europe. In 2004, only Britain, Ireland and Sweden did not have any such arrangements to stop the free movement of labour in the enlarged EU. Now, both Britain and Ireland will introduce measures against people from Bulgaria and Romania when they join the EU in January. And among the others, several countries discussed abolishing the previous regulations - but now it seems they will also have restrictions on the newest members. For example, The Netherlands seems to go that way. And Spain too. But Sweden, with a new government, will not have any restrictions. The previous Social Democratic government wanted it, but did not manage to get a majority in Parliament. This government has said that will not propose anything similar - I sure hope that position is steadfast. Hopefully, then, more people will come to work in Sweden this time than in 2004, when only some 2000 people came.