EU expansion halted as job fears spark new rifts
French President Nicolas Sarkozy after signing a nuclear cooperation agreement with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi in Rome's Villa Madama residence yesterday
European Union enlargement has been put on hold over fears of a growing backlash against migrant workers.
The Dutch and German governments have effectively put a block on any further eastwards expansion of the EU, fearing that it could stoke up tensions over unemployment during the economic crisis.
Waves of protests right across the EU are believed to have influenced the decision.
The issue came to a head this week with a European Commission assessment of a membership application request from Montenegro. Ministers will formally decide next month whether the application will be allowed to continue.
Germany and Holland are concerned that if Montenegro is considered then entry bids will quickly follow from Albania, Bosnia and Serbia, all countries that were promised membership in 2003. Croatia is already expected to join the EU in January 2011. Spain, France and Belgium are also said to share concerns about announcing further EU expansion.
An EU diplomat said: "Quite a few member states believe that it is not a purely 'technical' matter but a deeply political discussion."
An official involved in the talks said: "The Dutch said that the Lindsey refinery dispute in the UK has highlighted that enlargement and free movement of workers can be difficult to sell to EU electorates."
The fact that feelings could run so high in a country like Britain, seen as the EU country most open to foreign workers, was seen as a turning point. Protesters had chanted "British jobs for British workers".
Germany holds elections this autumn and the question of jobs being lost to eastern Europeans is expected to be a major issue.
"The perception is that whoever is seen to open Europe's doors further will lose," said an eastern European diplomat.
The economic crisis has made governments increasingly sensitive to claims that foreign workers from new EU countries are taking domestic jobs at a time when the labour markets are contracting.
The temperature of the debate will be raised further at the end of April when Germany, Austria and Belgium extend restrictions on the free movement of workers from the eight central and eastern European countries that joined the EU in May 2004.
Restrictions
Eleven countries have already decided to extend their restrictions on Bulgaria and Romania, both of which joined the EU in 2007, until 2012.
One eastern European diplomat said that "attitudes are hardening" towards the free movement of workers.
However, the issue is likely to come to head at a summit in Prague this May when EU leaders discuss how to prevent job losses.
"The question of unemployment is vital because it is linked to calls for protectionism and social unrest," said an EU official. "Some countries are using the spectre of populist protest to raise barriers."
Meanwhile, many European leaders are expected to air their concerns over protectionism, rising unemployment and social unrest at an emergency summit on Sunday.
Mass demonstrations here last weekend and the collapse of the government in Latvia are the latest protests that have set alarm bells ringing across the continent. (© Daily Telegraph, London)
- Bruno Waterfield in Brussels
