2004 Enlargement of The European Union - Free Movement Issues

Free Movement Issues

As of May 2011, there are no longer any special restrictions on the free movement of citizens of these new member states.

With their original accession to the EU, free movement of people between all 25 states would naturally have applied. However, due to concerns of mass migration from the new members to the old EU-15, some transitional restrictions were put in place. Mobility within the EU-15 (plus Cyprus) and within the new states (minus Cyprus) functioned as normal (although the new states had the right to impose restrictions on travel between them). Between the old and new states, transitional restrictions up to 1 May 2011 could be put in place, and EU workers still had a preferential right over non-EU workers in looking for jobs even if restrictions were placed upon their country. No restrictions were placed on Cyprus or Malta. The following restrictions were put in place by each country;

• Austria and Germany: Restriction on free movement and to provide certain services. Work permits still needed for all countries. In Austria, to be employed the worker needs to have been employed for more than a year in his home country prior to accession. Germany had bilateral quotas which remained in force.
• Cyprus: No restrictions.
• Malta: No restrictions on its workers, but does have the right to migration into the country.
• Netherlands: Initially against restrictions, but tightened up its policies in early 2004 and said it would tighten its policies if more than 22,000 workers arrived per year.
• Finland: 2 years of transitional arrangements where a work permit would be granted only where a Finnish national cannot be found for the job. Does not apply to students, part-time workers, entrepreneurs, people living in Finland for non-work purposes, people who were already living in Finland for a year or people who would be entitled to work anyway if they were from a third country.
• Denmark: Two years where only full-time workers can get a work permit, if they had a residence permit. Workers did not get welfare but restrictions only apply to wage earners (all the EU-10 citizens can set up a business).
• France: Five years of restrictions depending on sector and region. Students, researchers, self-employed and service providers were exempt from the restrictions.
• Spain: Two years.
• Portugal: Two years, annual limit of 6,500.
• Sweden: No restrictions.
• Czech Republic and Slovakia: No restrictions.
• Poland: Reciprocal limits, only British and Irish citizens had free access. Countries with looser or tighter limits face similar limits in Poland.
• Belgium, Greece and Luxembourg: Two years.
• United Kingdom: Welfare restrictions only, need to register though.
• Ireland: No restrictions.
• Hungary: Reciprocal limits for seven years.

Despite the fears, migration within the EU concerns less than 2% of the population. However, the migration did cause controversy in those countries which saw a noticeable influx, creating the image of a "Polish Plumber" in the EU, caricaturing the cheap manual labour from A8 countries making an imprint on the rest of the EU. Following the 2007 enlargement, most countries placed restrictions on the new states, including the most open in 2004 (Ireland and the United Kingdom) with only Sweden, Finland and the 2004 members (minus Malta and Hungary). But by April 2008, these restrictions on the eight members (they continued for Romania and Bulgaria) had been dropped by all members except Germany and Austria.