| Series Title | European Voice |
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| Series Details | Vol.12, No.13, 6.4.06 |
| Publication Date | 06/04/2006 |
| Content Type | News |
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Date: 06/04/06 MEPs on Wednesday (5 April) voted overwhelmingly in favour of a report asking member states to lift restrictions on the free movement of workers from ten countries which joined the EU in 2004. EU governments have until the end of April to decide whether to lift the temporary restrictions, imposed by all old EU member states except Ireland, Sweden and the UK. The report's author, Hungarian centre-right member Csaba Ory, told European Voice the result showed that "the future of Europe lies with our shared interest...I have always tried during this debate not to speak as a representative of my own country, because I really believe a properly working internal market is important for all of Europe." If not lifted this year, the restrictions could run for up to five years more. Liberal and Socialist MEPs have long favoured scrapping the transitional arrangements, but many observers had expected the report to run into stiff opposition from Ory's own group, the centre-right EPP-ED. The fact that this did not happen, said Ory, illustrated "a change in national thinking". Spain, Portugal and Finland recently announced they would lift the restrictions, while France and Denmark said they would phase them out gradually. The Dutch government has proposed to open the Dutch labour market fully to workers from the new member states from 1 January but parliamentary approval is uncertain. Ory said these developments showed that old Europe was "starting to analyse the good experience of the three member states with no restrictions". Article reports that MEPs on 5 April 2006 voted overwhelmingly in favour of a report asking Member States to lift restrictions on the free movement of workers from the ten countries which joined the EU in 2004. The report had been drafted by Hungarian centre-right MEP Csaba Ory. EU Governments had until the end of April 2006 to decide whether to lift the temporary restrictions, imposed by all old EU member states except Ireland, Sweden and the UK. |
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| Source Link | Link to Main Source http://www.european-voice.com/ |
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| Subject Categories | Internal Markets |
| Countries / Regions | Europe |
