Go west where the skies are blue?

Newsroom 25/02/2013 | 10:20

From 2014, Romanian citizens should be able to work without any restrictions throughout the European Union, after the maximum seven-year term for which the member states could maintain controls expires – to the dismay of some EU countries. BR asks if ‘fears of a tidal wave’ of eastern immigration are justified.

By Otilia Haraga

Under the treaty that Romania signed upon accession to the European Union, EU countries had the right to institute restrictions, as transitory measures, to protect their internal labor markets.

While the initial term was two years, it could be extended, pursuant to notifying the European Commission, by another three years, and subsequently an additional two years.

Since Italy and Ireland lifted restrictions in 2012, there are nine remaining countries where Romanians must obtain a work permit before getting employment: Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, France, Malta and Great Britain.

Over the past few weeks, fears have been voiced in the UK that Romanians and Bulgarians will flood the country’s labor market or take advantage of its benefit system.

Increasing criminality by Romanians in Great Britain last year has only stoked the worries. Among EU states, Romania came second only to Poland for offenses committed in the country. Between May 1 and December 31, 2012, Romanian citizens committed 7,221 crimes in the UK, representing 20.6 percent of the total of 35,059 infractions carried out by citizens of the 26 EU member states, according to data from the Association of Chief Police Officers, quoted by Hotnews.ro.

However, the situation in Great Britain is similar to that in any of the European nations that are still to lift labor restrictions in 2014.

In an interview with the BBC, Iain Duncan Smith, Work and Pensions Secretary, said the welfare system would be toughened up as Great Britain and several other countries are willing to take on the European Union over the contentious issue of benefits tourism.

“It’s not just us. People like the Dutch and the Scandinavians are all on our side. So there’s a big fight. We think, all of us – as northern European countries – we need to tighten up. We have a number of countries on our side and I think we will be able to tighten up and make those regulations much tougher for people coming in just to take advantage of our benefit system,” the minister said.

The British politician also said that estimating the numbers of immigrants likely to come to the UK was “incredibly difficult” and “pretty pointless.” “The last government said there would be only a few thousand and we ended up with a couple of million people coming in from different countries,” he added.

“If you look at where the Romanians have gone already, you can get a better picture. For example, the majority of the Romanians have settled at the moment in Germany, and ironically in Spain, where I thought there were real problems with jobs. We are ready, though, to make sure that they can’t come here to claim benefits.”

Duncan Smith added that the previous government did not record which migrants coming in went on to claim benefits. “We are going to record that now so we will know exactly how many people are here and if they get access to benefits, who they are, and we will be able to tighten up,” he said.

The British Embassy to Bucharest did not give BR a comment on the issue before the magazine went to print.

In the meantime, Romanian officials announced they would keep a careful eye on future developments. “From 2014, we will no longer allow a member state to invent reasons or statistics to restrict the rights of Romanian and Bulgarian citizens to free circulation and working on the territory of the Union,” said euro-parliamentarian Renate Weber. “If the labor market in EU member states continues to be restricted after this date, the European Commission should start infringement procedures,” she urged.

However, Great Britain’s worries may be exaggerated, at least according to the findings of a survey published on January 23 by the Romanian Institute for Evaluation and Strategy (IRES) concerning Romanians’ perceptions of and attitudes to working abroad. The survey found that the main emigration target for Romanians is Germany. “I don’t know where the UK’s fear comes from,” said sociologist Dumitru Sandu, professor at the Faculty of Sociology and Social Assistance.

What’s more, nearly half of the Romanian population, which according to the 2012 census has shrunk to 19 million people (the lowest level in the past 35 years), is not in the least interested in working abroad.

Asked whether they would consider seeking a job abroad, 45 percent of Romanians said they were “not at all interested”, 20 percent said they were “a little interested” while 2 percent did not know/answer. Only 18 percent and 15 percent replied that they were “interested” and “very interested”.

It is generally young adults who try their luck abroad. Worryingly for Romania’s economy, people aged between 18 and 35 are the most likely to emigrate, with 64 percent of this age group confirming an interest. Only 30 percent of those aged between 36 and 50 are interested in going abroad, and as the age goes up, desire to leave one’s native country falls dramatically.

People with an average level of education are more likely to look for a job abroad, with 36 percent answering in the affirmative, followed by the highly educated, at 27 percent. Of those with a low level of education, only 20 percent are interested in seeking work overseas.

People living in rural places, where the standard of living is often lower than in urban areas, are also more driven to search for a job abroad (36 percent of respondents compared to just 29 percent in urban areas).

Data provided for BR by Romanian online recruitment website BestJobs show that last year, vacancies increased by 15 percent on the year before. Great Britain is already one of the countries with the highest number of jobs offered to Romanians, according to the BestJobs data.

Adverts sought largely sales representatives, doctors and nurses, and demand for such workers seems to have held up this year as well.

Currently, BestJobs.ro users can apply for over 2,000 vacancies in Great Britain. Most employers are looking for healthcare personnel but also engineers and IT specialists, as well as hotel staff. Other jobs available in Great Britain via BestJobs.ro include veterinarians, construction workers, waiters, cooks, medical staff and carers for the elderly.

otilia.haraga@business-review.ro 

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