Germany & Austria to accession states: "Nein" on freedom of movement

[pete2]

The European Commission on Wednesday reacted with dismay to a decision by Germany and Austria not to allow workers from eight eastern European states free access to their labour markets.

The two countries are now the last to block foreign workers from competing with their own labour force after Belgium and Denmark agreed to drop any restrictions on tern European workers from next week.

European Union countries were given a maximum of seven years from the time of accession of the new member states in 2004, but most dropped the restrictions on foreign workers much earlier following political pressure from Brussels.

The Commission had hoped that Germany and Austria would open up their markets following the relatively smooth [wha?] experiences of countries like the UK that opened up their borders from

Vladimir Spidla, EU social affairs and employment commissioner, said he respected their decision, but added: “Successive Commission reports have found that migration flows following the 2004 and 2007 enlargements have had positive economic effects in those countries which did not restrict free movement of workers.”

The UK recently announced that it would make it easier to expel citizens from eastern Europe who were not working, studying or being self-sufficient – a notable hardening of its traditionally welcoming stance.

FT.com / Europe - Dismay over decision on labour access

The Germans are still quite happy that the cherished principle of EU freedom of movement remains someone elses problem. One rule for them, one for Ireland, and whats to bet they told the Danish and Belgians they were going to do it? Notice that the EU are still in denial about the "migration flows" that took place to Ireland.

[cactusflower]

So, Germany and Austria get their markets and they get.....?

[Trampas]

One rule for them, one for Ireland

Nonsense. Those rules are the same for all. In our case Foreign Minister Cowen decided to do the macho thing by throwing open our labour market to 70 million East Europeans. He didn't have to do so and of course he shouldn't have done so, but for some reason the FF/PD govt felt that we needed to do penance after our rejection of the first Nice referendum. Those invitations were issued on the following week (June 2001). The rest is a history of recklessness and lack of judgement.

[Catalpa]

No surprise at all,

But at least it exposes the Lie that the EU is all about equality between the States.

I expect that G&A will try and block this measure from applying to them post 2011 as well.

[bluefish]

But dont worry, Ireland is open to all.



Europe Europe Europe

Are you need of employment, benefits or just want to get away from it?

Then come to Ireland, the land of milk & honey.

Forget the fact we have nearly half a million unemployed, (we do!), we have plenty of opportunities for all.

So come to Ireland, and dont bring your kids, we will pay for them too!

IRELAND - Building a better life for anyone thats not Irish

[ibis]

We're open to all because we decided to be open to all. Nobody made our government do it.

[pete2]

No Ireland is open to all because the Yes campaign lied through its teeth about the risk of mass immigration.

The German political establishment having helped sell a pack of lies to the Irish people on Nice, now some years later, can't face up to the political consequences in their own backyard. Naturally the Germans won't be best pleased to have their country flooded with immigrants like Ireland has been.

One rule for us, one for them. For us, we are told freedom of labor movement is an essential principle of the EU, but for the largest labor market in the EU its just an inconvenient truth they can't face up to. EU HYPOCRITES

[ibis]

No Ireland is open to all because the Yes campaign lied through its teeth about the risk of mass immigration.

The German political establishment having helped sell a pack of lies to the Irish people on Nice, now some years later, can't face up to the political consequences in their own backyard. Naturally the Germans won't be best pleased to have their country flooded with immigrants like Ireland has been.

One rule for us, one for them. For us, we are told freedom of labor movement is an essential principle of the EU, but for the largest labor market in the EU its just an inconvenient truth they can't face up to. EU HYPOCRITES

Eh, well, if you were a determined No voter in both Nice referendums (or wish you had been), your views may well differ from mine, although I'd accept that the government probably had a very good idea how many might come. I don't recall the Germans being a major factor at all.

[pete2]

Eh, well, if you were a determined No voter in both Nice referendums (or wish you had been), your views may well differ from mine, although I'd accept that the government probably had a very good idea how many might come. I don't recall the Germans being a major factor at all.

In the wake of the [Nice] “no” vote, it [the Irish government] reassured the other Member States that it would honour the principle of freedom of movement within the EU following enlargement. This undertaking was criticised by the anti-Nice campaign groups.

One of them, the National Platform said: "This irresponsible commitment by the Government significantly changes the argument about EU enlargement. It means that the Government has agreed to bear the costs of potentially heavy East European migration to Ireland … without any debate in the Dáil (Parliament), consultation with the public, or consultation with the UK government, which could be significantly affected by this Irish Government commitment." (Irish Times 3/7/2002)

Subsequent to this statement some of the anti-Nice campaigners claimed that EU enlargement would lead to large numbers of Eastern European workers undercutting Irish workers’ wages and to multinational businesses moving to the East where wages were said to be one-third of those in Ireland.

These claims were rejected by both the trade unions and the employers. A spokesman for SIPTU, the largest trade union in the country said that unnecessary fears were being raised about Ireland being subject to a “flood” of immigrants from candidate EU Member States. A spokeswoman for IBEC, the main employers’ organisation, said fears of large numbers of workers coming from the candidate Member States were unfounded. The General Secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and every major business organisation subsequently endorsed these statements.

The allegations about “floods” of immigrants eventually divided the anti-Nice campaigners when the Socialist Workers Party, the Green Party and Sinn Fein all said that they were opposed to the introduction of immigration as an issue in the debate on the Nice Treaty. Campaigners for the Nice Treaty strongly rejected the argument that there would be “floods” of immigrants [COLOR=Red]and probably went too far in suggesting that the flows would be minimal[/COLOR]. For example, the government’s spokesman on the Nice Treaty, Mr. Roche, said that: "Existing surveys on migration patterns in Europe show that the claims are false. Ireland barely registers as a location in these surveys. The most recent research in Hungary and Poland shows no interest whatsoever in Ireland as a work location." (Irish Times 22/8/2002)

In the second referendum in October 2002 the electorate ratified the Nice Treaty by 63 per cent to 37 per cent. After ratification of the Nice Treaty, none of the major actors in the economic debate about enlargement expressed concerns about any adverse effects of immigration from Central and Eastern Europe on pay and working conditions in Ireland.

However, the General Secretary of the ICTU said in a Press Release on the 3rd of November 2005 that the ICTU had not been consulted on the decision to open the labour market to the EU10 Member States and that the government had acted at the behest of the business community...

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment felt that the nationals of the EU10 and other EU Member States would provide the bulk of Ireland’s employment needs [COLOR=Red]for maintaining economic growth[/COLOR]. In the year prior to enlargement Ireland processed over 47,500 work permits, almost fifty per cent of which went to Accession State nationals.

The Taoiseach (Prime Minister) stated that he believed “70 to 80” per cent of the work permit jobs could be filled in the future by citizens from the new EU states (The Irish Times 2004). Given the economic conditions in Ireland the EU enlargement debate was much more focused around protecting the welfare system from possible abuse rather than around labour market issues.

EU Enlargement and Ireland’s Experience of Migration from Central and Eastern Europe (2006)

This week the European Commission president, Romano Prodi, was forced to deny reports that his officials are drawing up contingency plans for a second Nice treaty rejection in Ireland.
The German government also flatly denied a report in the news weeklyDer Spiegel, headlined "Trick against Ireland" which suggested that Germany was secretly working on a new treaty that would exclude Ireland.

EU makes plans for second Irish 'no' vote on Nice treaty referendum - Europe, World - The Independent


No browbeating from the EU at all. No lies from Yes campaigners either. Now Germany decides that it will keep its borders closed so smaller nations continue to suffer for their idealism.

[ibis]

EU Enlargement and Ireland’s Experience of Migration from Central and Eastern Europe (2006)

EU makes plans for second Irish 'no' vote on Nice treaty referendum - Europe, World - The Independent


No browbeating from the EU at all. No lies from Yes campaigners either. Now Germany decides that it will keep its borders closed so smaller nations continue to suffer for their idealism.

Ha ha! You think that was idealism!? An Irish government - and an FF one - doing something out of idealism?

No, the government at the time looked at the upcoming labour crunch in the Irish economy, and opened the borders before anyone else did to ensure that the economy kept growing. I presume they either thought it would keep growing, or that they could at least soft-land it by letting the immigrants "bleed off". Unfortunately for them, a sharp and global depression completely stuffed any such plan. Still, we'll see - the Irish labour force has a lot of elasticity now, and we may see emigration statistics composed primarily of accession state nationals. Hiberniores Hibernis ipsis.

As for "browbeating from the EU" - bollox. The EU agreed a seven year moratorium on accession state movement. The Germans are well within their rights - and I suspect that if we had taken advantage of the moratorium, we would not now remove it.