The
EU and Migration
The
Process of EU Enlargement
The
2003 Accession Treaty On
1 May 2004 10 countries [1] joined the European Union following the
signing of the 2003 Accession Treaty. The
Accession Treaty provides for a transitional period of seven years
before community law on the free movement of workers takes effect
across the entire EU25. This transitional
period has three phases. In the first
phase, from 1 May 2004 to 30 April 2006 the EU15 states can adopt
national measures or bilateral agreements to restrict the free movement
of workers from the accession countries, except from Cyprus
and Malta. At the close of this phase the Commission must report
to the Council on the functioning of the transitional arrangements,
review this functioning and once completion of this review the EU15
member states must notify the Council of their intentions in the second
phase (from 1 May 2006 to 30 April 2009). In
the final period (until 30 April 2011) the EU15 member states may
still apply restrictions to free movement of workers in the case of
serious disturbance to their labour markets, or a threat of serious
disturbance. Amongst the countries joining
the EU the community law on free movement applies, although Malta has the
option of invoking a safeguard clause and retaining its work permit
system in order to monitor inflows.
Among
the EU15 only Sweden
and Ireland decided
not to impose restrictions an access to their labour markets for workers
from the Czech Republic,
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,
Hungary, Poland, Slovenia
and Slovakia. The UK also did not apply any restrictions
in advance but decided to adopt a worker registration scheme in relation
to those countries’ nationals. Under
the UK scheme those nationals have to register to work or be self-employed
and they must have sufficient funds not to seek state benefits. Following a 12 month uninterrupted period of employment
they then qualify for full free movement rights and can apply for
a residence permit. During the 12 months registered work those nationals
are not permitted to access most state benefits. After this 12 month
period of employment they can access income related benefits.
The
2005 Accession Treaty
The Accession Treaty 2005 granted Bulgaria
and Romania
membership of the European Union and materialised what became known
as the fifth enlargement. This process was carefully negotiated with labour regulation
high on the agenda and contact between representatives of the labour
movement in the UK and those countries.
These countries joined the EU on the 1 January 2007 but as
with the 2004 accession, transitional arrangements cover the free
movement of nationals from these countries. Again
the transitional arrangements are phased. In
the initial phase, until 31 December 2008 member states can restrict
access to their labour markets. During
this period the European Commission will draft a report to be reviewed
by the European Council and member states will need to inform the
Council of their intentions for the next phase which will last up
to 31 December 2011. After this there
is a presumption that free movement of persons shall apply to the
nationals of those two countries. However, an option does exist for
EU member states to extend the restrictions on their labour markets
for a further period of up to two years (until 31 December 2013). This is only permissible if an objectively verifiable
serious disturbance is caused or threatened to member state’s
labour markets by free movement. The restrictions
apply only to Bulgarian and Romanian citizens seeking employment in
other member states and do not apply to those wishing to study or
who are self-employed (with exceptions made for certain economic sectors
in some member states).
In the UK Bulgarian
and Romanian nationals can exercise
their rights to free movement to travel and study in the UK or to become self-employed. However,
access to the labour market is restricted.
Skilled and highly skilled migrant workers can get access
to the labour market through work permits or the highly skilled
migrants programme. This was the position
before the accession treaty came into force. Lower skilled workers are subjected to quota schemes to
fill vacancies in selected sectors such as agriculture and food
processing. The quota is for a maximum
of 20,000 per year and workers on these quotas are limited to a
six month stay in the UK. Bulgarian and Romanian nationals already in legal
employment in the UK will have the right to work in the UK once they have completed 12 months of continuous
employment in the UK
at any point on or after the 31 December 2006.
The proposed Migration Advisory Committee is to review the
operation of these transitional arrangements at the end of 2007.
There
are proposals to further enlarge the EU. Current
candidate countries are: Croatia,
the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,
Turkey.
Other potential candidates are: Albania, Bosnia
and Herzegovina, Montenegro,
Serbia
and Kosovo.
[1]
The Czech Republic, Estonia,
Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania,
Hungary, Malta, Poland,
Slovenia and
Slovakia.
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