Finland is ready to lift EU labour restrictions

The government's proposal to lift restrictions on the free movement of labour, which applies to the eight new member countries that joined the European Union in 2004, got nearly unanimous support in the Finnish Parliament on Tuesday.
      The government submitted its report to Parliament for debate. The report includes a proposal to discontinue the special transitional arrangements limiting the use of labour from the new EU member states as of May 1st 2006. Citizens of Romania and Bulgaria would also be freely admitted after these countries join the European Union in January 2007.
     
Since none of the parliamentary groups actually opposed the idea of abandoning the restrictions, they focused on arguing whether or not the restrictions were a mistake in the first place, and whose mistake they might have been.
      The Social Democrats were strongly in favour of the transition period. According to Pirkko Peltomo (SDP), gaps in the standard of living between the countries have levelled recently, and Finland has been able to prepare new legislation on the supervision of foreign workers' employment terms. The aim is for this legislation to take effect before the mobility restrictions are lifted in May.
     
Several MPs still remembered the survey that the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) published in 2000. The survey suggested that even as many as 400,000 Estonians would be prepared to come to work in Finland.
      The preparation of the legislation on mobility restrictions was based on exaggerated threats, concluded Kimmo Tiilikainen of the Centre Party. In his view, it could be expected then that the number of migrant workers coming to Finland through various employment agencies would continue to grow.
      The largest opposition group, the conservative National Coalition Party, believes that the law on restrictions should have been repealed much earlier. However, the government could not discontinue the interim period "because SAK did not allow them to do so", said Arto Satonen (National Coalition Party). He pointed out that it was in fact Minister of Finance Eero Heinäluoma (SDP) - then the Director of SAK's Information and Membership Services - who proposed a transition period of seven to ten years for the new member countries of the European Union.
     
Heidi Hautala of the Green League noted that the legislation on mobility restrictions presents a good example of a law whose consequences have turned out to be contrary to all expectations. She believes that the number of workers using the temp agency loophole would hardly have increased without this law.
      Markus Mustajärvi of the Left Alliance disagreed. He argued that the use of employees coming through various temp agencies is becoming more common in Finland in any case, and that there is no evidence indicating that it would be a result of the transition period. Even when the mobility restrictions are lifted, there will be no going back to the traditional employment of workers without unnecessary intermediaries, Mustajärvi predicted.
      According to the government's report, fewer workers from the new EU member countries have moved to old member countries than was expected. Neither have there been any serious disturbances on the labour market of any of these countries.
      In comparison, Sweden, Great Britain, and Ireland did not impose any interim period on the free mobility of labour, and they have not had any major problems, either.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Labour Ministry: Interim period for labour from new EU states causes problems (19.1.2005)
  Most Finnish candidates for EU Parliament open to more free movement of labour (21.5.2004)
  Young Estonians especially interested in working in Finland (14.4.2004)

Links:
  The Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK)