French unions protest against opening labor market to new EU members

"We are negotiating with several countries. This is a delicate issue. Employers are ready to abolish restrictions, but trade unions strongly oppose this idea," explained Deputy Economy Minister Mirosław Zieliński. Due to this, countries such as Italy, Spain and Greece, may announce their decisions right before the second anniversary of enlarging the EU to prevent unions from attempting any counter moves. The United Kingdom, which opened its labor market to new Union member states from the very beginning, has so far benefited from its decision due to lowering the number of working illegally who have increased the GDP by GBP150 million and paid GBP20 million in taxes. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A6) M.M.