European Commission to set right-to-work options for candidate-countries

The European Commission (EC) will present to the European Union Council (EUC) today several various positions the EU may support while negotiating with candidate countries over the issue of the free flow of persons. Apart from extreme versions, such as the right for everyone to work freely or a total ban on working for a few years, there are several intermediate solutions. One of them assumes that for a few years, most likely five to seven, after EU expansion, each of the current 15 member-countries could, if necessary, introduce some restriction on citizens of new member-countries. The EC maintains the position that such restrictions should be the same for all countries. In that case, citizens of new member-countries would have to obtain work permits issued by labor offices in EU countries. It is still unknown whether the permit system will be in effect in Germany and Austria alone, since thus far only those two countries have presented a position on the matter. Representatives of governments of such countries as Sweden, the U.K., Spain, and Italy have indicated that they do not want to place restrictions. The EC's current move is intended to force those countries to present their official position. It appears likely that from the first day of Poland’s entry to the EU, her citizens will have the right to work in most EU countries.(Rzeczpospolita, p. B1) A.D.