Post date: Aug 11, 2011 2:30:39 PM
The European Commission authorises Spain, who is facing economic slowdown and the highest unemployment rate of the European Union, to temporarily restrict the free movement of Romanian workers.
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM REUTERS - Exceptional situation invites exceptional measures.
The European Commission authorised Spain on Thursday (August 11) to temporarily bar Romanian workers from entering the Spanish labour market.
Spain is struggling with economic slowdown and the highest unemployment rate of the European Union.
Romanian workers will not be able to enter Spain labour market until December 2012, European Commission spokesperson Chantal Hughes said.
''Following the request from Spanish authorities a couple of weeks ago to invoke the safeguard clause the European Commission has approved this morning Spain's request to restrict its labour markets to Romanian workers until 31st December of next year. We would like to insist on the fact that the Commission is taking this decision and approved this temporary restriction because of the very specific employment situation in Spain. Spain GDP has dramatically fallen by minus 3.9 percent between 2008 and 2010 and its
unemployment rate is by far the highest in the EU. Over 20 percent since May 2010. The continuous increase of Romania residents in Spain and the high level of unemployment around 30 percent have had an impact on the capacity of Spain to absorb new flows of workers,'' Hughes said.
The measure will not affect Romanians already employed, Hughes added.
The demise of an economic model based on a decade-long construction and property boom has left Spain with an unemployment rate of over 20 percent.
Latest figure released by the European Commission shows an unemployment rate of 21% in June 2011, against 9.4% on average in the EU and 9.9% in the euro area.
Economic recovery is lagging too with only 0.3% of GDP growth in the first quarter of 2011 in comparison to the previous quarter, against 0.8 % for the EU and the euro area.
While many of the foreign workers initially came from Latin America, nearly 2 million of Spain's legal foreign residents were from the European Union, government data from end of 2010 shows.
Romanians have now overtaken Moroccans as the biggest immigrant community with more than 800,000.
The right of free movement is one of the fundamental principal of the 27-member bloc, a zone free from internal border.
The European Commission recently authorised member countries to restore border controls temporarily to control immigration.