The own-initiative report, adopted by the European Parliament on 5 April 2006, was drafted by Hungarian Conservative MEP Csaba Öry. It is a reaction to the Commission's report on the functioning of the transitional arrangements set out in the 2003 Accession Treaty, which was published in February 2006 with a view to the expiry of the first phase 2+3+2-year scheme on 30 April 2006. By that date, member states will have to declare their stance on the labour movement issue.
The Parliament's report largely confirms the Commission's findings that Britain, Ireland and Sweden, which have not excluded workers from the eight new member states subject to the scheme, have drawn economic benefit from their decision. On the other hand, the twelve old member states who have excluded the workers did not profit much by the exclusion while they created new problems and distortions on their labour markets. These problems include, the report says, higher levels of illegal work and "sham self-employment", as well as "regionally acute wage pressure", unfair working conditions and exploitation of migrant workers.
MEPs invited the Commission to provide comparable statistical material by 2009, when the second phase of the transitory measures will run out, in order to be able to evaluate the impact of labour migration by that time. Finland, Spain and Portugal have announced that they will lift the transitional arrangement measures on 1 May 2006, France will lift them step-by-step over a longer period of time. Germany, Austria and Belgium will extend them at least until 2009. The remaining five old EU countries (Denmark, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy and Greece) have not yet spoken out.
