The reaction came after British officials announced the continuation of restrictions to the new EU member nations for another two years at least.

Romanian authorities have called the move disappointing, arguing that as EU member states they should not be denied the opportunity for their workers to have full rights to work in the UK. They claim that preventing free movement of workers within the community hinders the capacity of the EU itself to overcome the current downturn in global economics.

The reaction is also supported by latest figures from within Romania which reveal the country’s economy is in worse shape than ever. Romanian officials are desperate for a surge in emigrating workers to Britain to help alleviate some of the pressure on the state which is being crippled by handouts.

Education and young people are also suffering. According to the Save the Children charity, around one third of Romanian children are living in poverty, with school numbers down and illegal child labour numbers as high as 70,000.

The Romanian government claimed bluntly that the country is broke and full of poor workers desperate to make it to the UK to find employment which would solve many of the country’s problems.

Share This

In an announcement made Tuesday Immigration Minister Phil Woolas confirmed that it will allow close to 25,000 Romanian and Bulgarian low-skilled workers to enter the UK for work in the areas of food processing and agriculture. This is a continuation of the quota system currently used.

Romania and Bulgaria were admitted to the European Union in 2007 at which time Britain imposed limits on migration to both countries. Under EU rules the UK renewed the limits last year and will again do so up until 2011 at this stage. The UK can impose restrictions for a total of 7 years in line with the EU ruling.

Mr Woolas said the decision to retain restrictions was done with the local labour market in mind and was for the protection of the resident workforce. British unemployment has risen by close to 90,000 in the past three months and now stands at 2.469 million, or at a ratio of 7.9%.

The looming general election means that Gordon Brown’s Labour Party, lagging badly in the polls, cannot afford to allow any new disrupt among the nation’s already strained workforce. With immigration increasingly under the electoral spotlight the government has deemed now is not the right time to be making changes. The high rate of immigration that took place after 2004 has given rise to a groundswell of backlash against the UK government being the only one of the major EU nations that let new member citizens in without restriction.

Share This

Bulgaria experienced a marked drop in emigration from 2000 – 2006  as the EU opened its borders to new members which resulted in a huge influx of workers from the Eastern bloc travelling to Sweden, Ireland and the UK which at the time welcomed the foreign labour force.

Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Estonia and all relaxed restrictions on travel upon accession on 2004, with Italy, Spain, Portugal, Finland, following in 2006. Germany and Austria have maintained restrictions despite EU criticism. Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007.

Recent surveys within Bulgaria have shown that almost all new graduates or students have no desire to move to another country, which may be influenced by the recession along with stricter immigration controls increasing in the region. The result is that the new wave of emigrants from Bulgaria is those with few if any professional qualifications according to the National Statistics Institute.

The biggest destination countries are Spain and Greece where the Bulgarian Diaspora is around 110,000 prompting the new government to host job fairs in these countries in a bid to lure emigrants home. The new government under Prime Minister Boyko Borissov includes for the first time a minister for citizens working or living abroad which aims to preserve local job markets in the bigger picture.

The fall in professional emigration has also been attributed to the lack of legal work opportunities in the desired EU destinations. Germany, Austria, Italy and the UK all maintain strict controls whereas Denmark, Spain and Greece are more accessible. Forecasted economic growth in Bulgaria is expected to see the return of some of the Diaspora although many have chosen to remain abroad in the recession.

Share This

The UK based Gangmaster Licensing Authority declared that the man would be prosecuted if he continued with the illegal practice of deducting large sums of money from the migrant worker’s salaries.

Kostadin Todorov, the Bulgarian head of Todorov & Co Ltd, has had his business license revoked and authorities have promised stronger measures should he continue to hire staff without the appropriate documentation.

The case came to light after workers approached officials claiming that Todorov was demanding 16% of their pay. The Bulgarian migrant workers, who had been lured to remote destinations such as Angus, Abroath and Cambridgeshire were unaware of how the law worked. Todorov had also been charging local farmers a weekly rate for the labour.

The workers were never issued with a pay slip and frequently experienced lengthy delays. Todorov has been accused of exploiting the faith and goodwill of both the Bulgarian workers and British farmers and formally charged with exploitation of workers.

The farmers face further costs to cover insurance charges from unpaid wages.

Todorov claimed that the workers had been sent to the UK under the required legislation for the agricultural sector. Inquiries by authorities later found that almost all had made applications for UK visas via Todorov but had all been rejected by officials in Bulgaria who had long since deemed Todorov a liability. All have been returned home and face an uphill battle to recover lost income from Todorov.

Share This

The program that was created covers the different areas of immigration including border security, international travel security as well as issuing passports that would contain biometric information of Bulgaria individuals. This agreement also creates a process for travelers to resolve lost or stolen passports, development of information programs and additional programs that would focus on air navigation security. Part of the conditions to the agreement is that Bulgaria lowers the amount of US citizens that are currently be denied access. The current percentage is thirteen percent but the new agreement would require that to be lowered to only ten percent.

Bulgarian Prime Minister commented, “The important thing today is the very important message to the Bulgarian citizens from the government of the United States that Bulgaria is seen as trustful ally, that Bulgarian citizens are welcome to travel to the United States, and that we shall continue to successfully accomplish this goal.”

Share This