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The European Commission adopted a defensive stance on 26th July, saying that Spain could introduce restrictive measures against Romanian workers "under exceptional circumstances". The EU executive said Spain had no legal right to impose such a ban.
Asked about controversial Spanish plans to ban Romanian workers on the Spanish job market from August, a Commission spokesperson retracted from previous statements according to which Madrid could not legally impose such limitations.
Chantal Hugues, spokesperson for Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier, said that Spain could impose such limitations under exceptional circumstances. She said the EU executive had received a letter from the Spanish authorities outlining their concerns, which it was studying.
In fact, Spain was among the first countries to fully open its job market to the EU's latest newcomers, Romania and Bulgaria.
However, as a consequence of the crisis, Spain now has the highest unemployment rate in Europe (over 20%) and is considering imposing restrictions on its job market. As Romanian workers in Spain are more numerous, the planned restrictions do not concern Bulgaria.
Madrid has now informed the Commission on statistics regarding Romanian workers on its soil and hopes that restrictions could be impose as early as from August.
As the measure by Madrid is unprecedented, the EU executive has recognised that it finds itself in new territory. Reportedly, the restrictions to be imposed by Madrid would concern only new arrivals of workers. Also, the tourist traffic would not be affected, as the Romanians are free to visit any EU country for a stay of up to three months.
According to some reports, the measures to be put in place by Madrid could inspire other EU countries to impose limitations to their job market to citizens from Bulgaria and Romania. The Netherlands already announced that it would grant Bulgarians and Romanians as well as foreigners from outside the EU a work permit in the Netherlands under "exceptional cases".
The move, which will come into force in the coming days, is supposed to curb the flow of workers from the eastern European country to ease pressure on Spain's job market. The Spanish government decided to restrict the access of Romanian nationals because of the country's high unemployment rate (20%).
The government said the restrictions would not apply to Romanians already working in Spain, but it remains unclear what will happen if and when their contracts end. Under the new restrictions, Romanians will need a work permit and a work contract before they can enter Spain.
A European Commission spokeswoman confirmed that the Commission had received a letter from Spain explaining its decision. She said the Commission would analyse whether the move was in line with EU rules on free movement.
The number of companies created in Spain increased by 2.2 percent in 2010, after three consecutive years of decline. The number of companies started up in 2010 totalled 79,963, 2.2% more than in 2009, representing the first increase after three years of continual decline. The subscribed capital for the newly founded companies reached almost 7.999 million euros, 66.9% higher than the previous year. In addition, the average subscribed capital per company was 100,033 euros, a 63.2% rise on 2009. As for the 18,467 companies dissolved, 75.7% did so voluntarily, 11.1% merged with other companies and 13.2% were wound up for other reasons.Source: Think Spain. | ||
