By Martin Banks - 11th August 2011
This decision has been taken because of the very specific employment situation in Spain
László Andor
The commission has approved Spain's request to restrict its labour market to Romanian workers until 31 December 2012 due to "serious disturbances" in its labour market.
In announcing the move on Thursday, the commission said Spain has been hit "very hard" by the economic crisis.
It says the unprecedented fall in GDP (3.9 per cent between 2008 and 2010) has resulted in the highest unemployment rate in the EU, over 20 per cent since May 2010.
The move is justified, it says, as "continuous increase of Romanian residents in Spain and their high level of unemployment have had an impact on the capacity of Spain to absorb new inflows of workers".
László Andor, the EU commissioner responsible for employment, social affairs and inclusion, said, "This decision has been taken because of the very specific employment situation in Spain.
"As a rule, I am convinced that restricting the free movement of European workers is not the answer to high unemployment.
"We should rather focus on creating new job opportunities. From the start, Spain has always had a very open policy to workers from other countries, including the new member states, which the commission has always welcomed.
"However, the commission understands why, at this particular juncture - because of the dramatic employment situation and the very complex financial environment - the Spanish authorities wish to step back from full free movement.
"The Spanish request is supported by factual evidence and the accession treaty does allow the re-imposition of temporary restrictive measures in such cases.
"By implementing these changes, Spain would still remain more open to workers from new member states than some other member states.
"However, we hope this move will be limited in time as much as possible and an overall positive attitude towards free movement in Europe will continue to prevail."
He added, "I continue to encourage Spain to reform its labour market and improve employment opportunities for young people, and I also call for greater efforts to enhance employment opportunities in Romania. Both countries need to use EU structural funds better in order to create jobs in a more robust way.
"This is what is necessary to make a long-term difference to the employment situation."
In making the decision the commission authorises Spain to temporarily impose restrictions on Romanians to access its labour market, until 31 December 2012.
These restrictions will apply to activities in all sectors and regions. However it shall not affect Romanian nationals who are already active on the Spanish labour market.
The analysis by the commission has established that Romanian nationals living in Spain are strongly affected by unemployment, as 30 per cent of them are unemployed.
Some 191,400 Romanian citizens working in Spain were unemployed in the first quarter of 2011: the second highest number after Spanish nationals.
This number was only 80,100 three years earlier. In the same period, the number of employed Romanians fell by nearly 24 per cent despite a fall in the number of Romanian national coming to work in Spain in recent years, probably due to the economic recession, the inflow remains at high levels.
The number of Romanian nationals usually resident in Spain has increased from 388,000 on 1 January 2006 to 823,000 on 1 January 2010.
As Spain had already opened its labour market to all EU citizens, any restriction of the free movement of workers constitutes derogation and can only be temporary.
The commission says it will monitor closely the situation in Spain and will have the possibility of modifying or revoking the Decision at any time it sees fit.
It says that, in general, free movement of workers has had a positive economic impact at the European scale and has produced economic growth in the receiving countries.
Recent estimates suggest that the long-term impact of the population flows between 2004 and 2009 on the GDP of the EU-15 was an extra 0.9 per cent.
The commission will now inform the council of its decision and any member state may request the council to amend or annul the commission's decision on the suspension of EU law within two working weeks.
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