July 2, 2010

The National Assembly Chair Tsetska Tsacheva has sent, July 2, 2010, letters to the chairs of the parliaments of 10 member countries of the European Union, namely Austria, France, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Italy, Holland and Britain.

“Guided by the faith that solidarity is an inherent value of our common European family, I would avail myself to appeal to you to remove the restrictions for Bulgarian workers”, writes the speaker of the Bulgarian Parliament. “I count on your support to put this question on the agenda for consideration by your legislative institutions, possibly before the end of 2011, adds Tsetska Tsacheva.

The National Assembly notes that after the accession of Bulgaria to the EU on January 1, 2007, the above countries have retained the right to apply transitional measures regarding the access of Bulgarian citizens to the labor market. At the moment we are running in the second three-year period, in which these countries apply the restrictions, with a deadline set to expire by 31 December 2011.

The letter of Tsetska Tsacheva recalls that on May 20, 2010, the European Parliament in Strasbourg adopted a report, initiated by Bulgaria’s MEP Iliana Ivanova, urging Member States to review their positions on labor restrictions. The European Parliament’s Report (A7-0132/2010) calls for establishing a single market for consumers and citizens and sets the political directions of the single European market, in which free movement of workers and non-discrimination of EU citizens are key, she stresses.

According to the chair of the National Assembly, removing the restrictions to the labor market before the deadline will not only be welcomed by the people of our country, but will also be an adequate measure in terms of the economic crisis. “In this context, the restrictions elimination will significantly improve the image of the EU, as a union of sovereign states based on mutual cooperation, solidarity and equality”, Tsacheva emphasizes.

The National Assembly Chairwoman Tsetska Tsacheva said at the briefing that she is committed to launch bilateral talks with the Presidents of Parliaments of the Member States of the European Union for abolition of the restrictive regiment for Bulgarian citizens to work there. She said such a ban is not in the spirit of the European values, not in line with the principle of equality for all citizens in the EU and the regulation is discriminatory. Tsetska Tsacheva explained that the initiative is a joint undertaking with Bulgaria’s MEPs and a continuation of their actions.

15 EU Member States already accept Bulgarians without restrictions said Iliana Ivanova - MEP from the GERB party. She noted that in the other 10 countries the market was partially opened for our workforce. She added that statistics so far show that there is no particularly large influx of Bulgarian migrant workers on the foreign labor market, such that ups unemployment in the said countries.