Governments shut out EU workers

Sinn Féin National Chairperson Mary Lou McDonald MEP has expressed concerns regarding EU member state attitudes to the free movement of migrant workers across the European Union.

Her comments follow the announcement by the British and Irish Governments that they would restrict access to their countries by workers from Romania and Bulgaria.

McDonald said that a two-tier system was in operation where some EU states have given free access to migrant workers while others have slammed the doors shut.

"The European Union has to decide whether it is an area of free movement for migrant workers or not. We cannot have an EU where some new states are admitted on the basis of a second-class membership," she said.

The Bulgarian Government has reacted angrily to the decision and said that it would consider retaliation. "We will discuss the possibility to impose reciprocal restrictions on Britain as well as on other EU member states that restrict the free movement of labour," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Dimitar Tsanchev.

McDonald also indicated that Sinn Féin would vigorously oppose any efforts to tie Romanian or Bulgarian workers to specific employers through a permit system.

"Instances of abuse by unscrupulous employers, who can effectively hold employees to ransom, are not a new phenomenon," she said.