Expected Flow Of Bulgarians, Romanians Raises Hackles In Europe
Over the New Year's holiday, Bulgarians and Romanians became free to move across the European Union in search of jobs as the bloc's last labor restrictions were lifted. As we've previously told you, the prospect of a flood of workers from two of the EU's newest and poorest members has prompted fears of "poverty migrants" – especially in Britain and Germany.
Indeed, some of the first Romanian workers who arrived in the U.K. were greeted by two lawmakers and a horde of reporters.
One of them, Victor Spirescu, a construction worker, was asked if he had a job. He replied: "Yes. I go to work. Tomorrow I work."
He said he earned about $13.65 a day working in Romania; in the U.K., he said, he hoped to earn that in an hour. And, he added, with the money he wanted to "renovate my home and make a good life in Romania because it's much easier to live in Romania, because it's not expensive."
The Guardian reported that when Keith Vaz, chairman of the home affairs select committee, and Mark Reckless, a committee member from the Conservative Party, went to Luton airport — where Spirescu arrived — "to see for ourselves" the steps in place on the first day of unrestricted access for workers from the two countries.
"What they found was a plane three-quarters full, with the overwhelming majority of the 146 passengers returning to jobs in the U.K. having enjoyed Christmas break with their families at home. No mass stampede, this."