Romanians and the European employment market

Romanian workers are a gain for the economy of their host countries, reads a recent EU report.

Florentin Căpitănescu, 14.10.2013, 13:16

Berlin’s fears concerning an immigration wave from Romania and Bulgaria is ungrounded, because as a rule these immigrants do not abuse the welfare system in Germany. This is the official position of the European Commission, as presented in a report that looks at the effects of EU migration on the welfare budgets of member states. According to the document, cited by Deutsche Welle, the German economy has net benefits from the immigrants, who only account for 5% of those who receive welfare, the same percentage as in Finland, France, Netherlands and Sweden.

The document also mentions that there is little evidence suggesting that the main motivation for EU citizens to migrate and settle in another country — Germany, in this case — is to get welfare benefits. The conclusions of this report were reinforced by the EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, Laszlo Andor, who said that most of the Romanians and Bulgarians in Germany have jobs, pay taxes and social security and spend their money in that country.

These statements from Brussels came after the German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich expressed concern that his country would become the destination of choice for those Romanians and Bulgarians, particularly Rroma ethnics, who seek easy gains from the German public budgets. Friedrich said Brussels must make sure that Bucharest and Sofia use the European funds made available to them for the social inclusion of the Rroma. The German official went even further, and, after warning that Germany is facing the imminent threat of what he called “a wave of poverty-stricken immigrants,” he claimed that those who seek financial gains from living in Germany should not have the right to free movement.

Previously, the Romanian Foreign Ministry had reiterated that Romania’s Schengen accession should not be tied to the Rroma issue, which is a EU-wide problem. Similar debates concerning the Romanian and Bulgarian workers take place in other EU countries as well, most notably in the UK. Here, the economic advantages entailed by the employment of Romanians and Bulgarians are weighed against the alleged pressure they put on the country’s public education, healthcare and welfare systems.