On the eve of the Commission's scheduled 16 May publication of its report on the accession prospects of Bulgaria and Romania, a report released by the pressure group Migration Watch claims that up to 300,000 workers could move to the UK from the two Balkans states over the next 20 months unless immigration rules are tightened by London.
The UK is among those old EU member states which allow unrestricted access to its labour market by workers from the new member states. Migration Watch now says that "substantial migration" was to be expected from Bulgaria and Romania - both saddled by high unemployment figures (10% for Bulgaria and 8% for Romania) - "if the UK is again the only major EU country not to impose a transitional arrangement."
In the report "based on the British government's own methodology," Migration Watch says that "it will also be essential to close off the benefit system [as for the 2004 enlargement round] to prevent benefit tourism."
The accession of Bulgaria and Romania, tentatively scheduled for 1 January 2007, will bring an additional 30 million people into the EU's fold. In 2004, a total of 580,000 people moved to the UK, up from 513,000 in 2003.
