eu4journalists

Internal Market

4. Free movement of people

Issues

• Recognition of qualifications
• Loss of pension and social security benefits
• Free movement not reality for all new member states

For citizens of EU member states, free movement throughout the Union has, in principle, been achieved, and they have the right to live, work and travel freely. Identity cards or passports are required for travel outside one’s home member state, but no visa, work permit or other specific document/permission is required. In most member states, however, staying longer than a holiday requires registration.

When hiring workers, employers are not allowed to discriminate against potential employees on the basis of nationality (except in specific, sensitive areas such as national security). They can, however, require employees to be fluent in specific languages in the course of their work. This can act as a ‘barrier to entry’.

One of the largest barriers to working outside one’s member state is recognition of qualifications. Whether in the case of professions requiring several years of higher education, or trades requiring specific training, workers often find it difficult to get jobs in countries other than where they gained their qualifications. Even where the basic skills are alike, such people may find they need to undertake extensive training to ‘requalify’ to work in the new member state. To resolve this problem, the EU has put in place a system of mutual recognition of diplomas, so that those qualified to work in a given field in one member state may enter the same profession in any other member state, on the same terms as locals. In certain professions, such as medicine, specific agreements have been made to ensure high standards of service across the Union.

For workers, a major barrier is the ‘portability’ of pension rights, unemployment and health benefits and other aspects of social security. National systems have been set up for people to contribute all their working life and then draw their pensions in retirement. Those who work in different member states may find they have accumulated partial benefits in two or more different national systems. Although EU rules dictate that contributions made in different states are added together throughout working life, with benefits defined at national level, the system’s complexity remains a barrier to workers’ movement. Those in higher paid jobs may well organise their own pension and healthcare provisions, so this barrier is likely to affect lower paid work more.

Workers from the ten countries (excluding Cyprus and Malta) that joined the EU in 2004 still face restrictions when looking for employment in certain member states. These transitional measures are detailed in the Accession Treaties: a transition period from two to up to seven years applies in which a specific work permit is required to work in “old” member states. Germany and Austria are the only member states which intend to block access to their labour markets for the maximum seven years, until 2011. For citizens of Romania and Bulgaria, EU members since 2007, the labour market restrictions will have to be lifted by January 1st 2014. When and if Turkey joins the EU, it is likely that some member states will demand a significantly longer transition period.