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Germany's decision to retain its barriers to workers from new EU member states until April 2009 has received criticism from Poland. Jozef Olszynski, economic attache at the Polish embassy in Berlin, said Germany would lose more than the CEE countries by keeping the restrictions on Polish workers. He added that the rules were anti-business and unjust.

Germany's chamber of commerce also criticized the move and complained that the country could damage its image among the new EU members. Ludwig Georg Braun, president of the chamber of commerce, told the Financial Times that Berlin should at least rule out lengthening restrictions beyond 2011, which is allowed under the enlargement rules.

Germany is currently experiencing high unemployment, and there are fears that any loosening of the restrictions could exacerbate the problem. Belgium and Austria have also decided to retain the limits. Spain, Portugal and Finland recently announced that they would allow citizens of the new EU member states complete freedom of access to their labor markets. (Reuters)