Equal treatment of Bulgarian citizens on the UK labour market
12.7.2012
Question for written answer E-006963/2012
to the Commission
Rule 117
Ivailo Kalfin (S&D)
I have been receiving various alerts about the fact that, since the beginning of 2012, Bulgarian citizens in the UK have been experiencing serious difficulties in being issued with registration certificates giving them access to the labour market. I have been told that it is taking longer for applications to be considered, that people are not being informed in a timely manner about applications that have been considered and the decisions taken on them, and that it is effectively impossible to submit the documents required for the issue of registration certificates.
1. Does the Commission have any information about unequal treatment of Bulgarian citizens in the UK and, if not, does it intend to seek additional information and to encourage the UK authorities to accord equal treatment to all EU citizens?
2. Has the Commission observed a falling-off in the rate of employment of workers from Bulgaria and Romania in the UK, and does it have any explanations for this? More particularly, could it be that access for workers from Central and Eastern Europe is being artificially restricted because of the crisis and the record unemployment rate in the European Union?
3. The Commission stated that it expected to receive, by mid‑May, additional analyses and explanations from the nine Member States which had decided to use in full the transitional periods for limiting Bulgarian and Romanian citizens’ access to their labour markets. Have all the Member States concerned replied to the Commission’s additional questions? Does the Commission find all the responses satisfactory and, if not, which explanations from which Member States do not meet its approval?
4. Does the Commission have up-to-date information on the movement of migratory flows in the EU since the beginning of the crisis and can it make such information available?
5. Does the Commission have information as to what proportion of young people who complete their third-level education in another Member State remain there to work, and what proportion return to their country of origin? Could the Commission supply such figures in respect of Bulgarian citizens?
OJ C 219 E, 31/07/2013