According to the employment commissioner, pidla, who disclosed the results of the survey of professional migration from the East to the West of the continent after the accession (May 1st 2004), “the free flow of labour is one of the four fundamental freedoms of the EU. This report clearly shows that it has not disrupted the job market of the 15-member countries”, while “Europe as a whole has benefited from it”. The release accompanying the survey specifies that “according to the accession Treaty, signed on April 16th 2003, the member states must decide by April 30th 2006 whether to remove the national restrictions to the free flow of labour in the EU that had been introduced in May 2004 by the old member states” for the workers of the eight countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Such restrictions “have already been removed by the United Kingdom, Ireland and Sweden”, and Spain too is willing to do the same. “Restriction on outflows” have been planned instead in Hungary, Poland and Slovenia. The Commission’s report now will have to be reviewed by the summit of the Heads of state and government due by the end of March.
