Borders come down

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has praised a decision by three more EU countries to remove labour barriers to workers from member states in Eastern and Central Europe.

Spain, Portugal and Finland agreed as of the start of last month to open their borders to workers from those countries that joined the EU in May 2004. France and Belgium have also agreed to make access easier. These countries join the UK, Sweden and Ireland, which allowed free movement from when the new countries joined the EU.

The ETUC said it “welcomes this progress towards a more labour open market” and called for “better social protection to accompany free movement”.

An EU Commission report found that migrant workers from the new EU countries benefited the countries they moved to, and urged all EU states which had not done so to consider putting an end to restrictions.