Poland in the EU

May 1 is approaching. This is not only the 5th anniversary of Poland and other countries in the EU. It is also the deadline for "old" EU members to lift work restrictions for "new" EU citizens. Well, almost.

After May 1 only those countries which can prove serious perturbations on their labour market can keep restrictions. Unofficial information has it that only the Germans and Austrians want to do so, although they have not notified the European Commission yet.

Most countries: the UK, Ireland, but also Spain, Italy, France and others have lifted the restrictions already. Apart from Germany and Austria only Denmark and Belgium are left and they - as I hear - do not plan to continue with them.

The law is unclear about who actually decides here what a serious perturbation is: the country itself or the Commission. I wonder: if the Commission does not see one (which I suspect it doesn't, since it has been in favour of ending the transition periods as early as 2006), will it be brave enough to stand up to Berlin and Vienna? Theoretically it could take the countries to court for breaching EU treaties. But I doubt.

Just for the record, I have found data by the Polish statistical office (GUS) about how many Poles emigrated where in 2004-2007. Here they are:

UK 690,000

Germany 490,000

Ireland 200,000

Netherlands 98,000

Italy 87,000

Spain 80,000

France 55,000

Austria 39,000

Belgium 31,000

Sweden 27,000

Greece 20,000

Denmark 17,000

The others have single digit numers or are absent altogether.

elsewhere in Europe (Norway, Iceland) 65,000

To me the most striking thing is how low France, a traditional country of Polish emigration is. The French are trying to promote their language and culture, but they have obviously failed to grasp this is a way to do it. Now we will have 890,000 more English-speaking Poles, many educated in the British or Irish system. Quel dommage :-)