Niederlande öffnet Arbeitsmarkt für Arbeitnehmer aus Mittel- und Osteuropa[en][fr] 

Social affairs Minister Henk van Hoof recommends opening Dutch borders to workers from Central Europe. In a recent letter to the parliament, he wrote: "The situation on the Dutch labour market is such that free movement of workers from the new member states is desirable." 

So far, only eight member states from the 'old' EU-15 - the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain - have lifted restrictions on migrant workers from the 10 countries that joined the EU in 2004. Other countries, such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, France and Luxembourg are, however, gradually opening up their labour markets.

The Dutch labour market opening does not concern workers from Bulgaria and Romania, the two member states that joined in 2007

The parliament’s upper chamber is to vote on the opening of the labour market on 27 February 2007.