UK lifts bar on workers from new EU countries

Britain offered a new concession yesterday to the former Eastern bloc countries about to join the EU, announcing that their citizens will be able to work in the UK from 2004.

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, said the UK would waive a ruling already agreed by EU countries to bar workers from the eight former Communist nations for up to eight years.

The UK, one of the staunchest supporters of enlargement, will admit foreign workers from the day their country becomes an EU member.

Mr Straw said the move "makes sense for the accession countries and for the UK".

He added: "It will attract workers we need in key sectors and is part of our managed migration agenda. It will ensure they can work here without restrictions and not be a burden on the public purse."

Ireland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Greece have made a similar move, although Germany and Austria – both of which have borders with the new states – intend to apply restrictions which can last between two and seven years for all applicant nations except Cyprus and Malta.

Fears of a large influx of immigrants have eased considerably, partly because, when Spain and Portugal joined the EU in 1986, the predicted increase never materialised. In fact more Britons took up residence in the two countries than the other way round.

Many low-paid workers from Eastern Europe are already in the EU illegally, and any increase in migration is likely to come from better qualified professionals, experts believe.

But the move sends a different political signal from the Government, which has stressed its determination to crack down on asylum seekers.

Studies estimate the total movement of population after 2004 is unlikely to exceed 300,000, of whom as many as 200,000 are expected to head for Germany. That movement would represent less than 1 per cent of the German workforce.

EU countries face a labour shortage as the working population declines.

The declaration was made as Mr Straw attended talks in Brussels to prepare for a summit on Thursday in Copenhagen which will invite 10 countries – Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Cyprus and Malta – to join the EU on May 1, 2004.

Yesterday, there was no breakthrough in negotiations on the financial package offered to the new member states.

Poland led the calls for a better deal. The latest offer from the Danish EU presidency is around €2bn (£1.3bn) lower than the spending ceiling of more than €42bn (£27bn) laid down by EU leaders to fund expansion in 1999, but several member states have rejected the idea of further increases.

While discussions on the financial package continued, ministers moved closer to giving Turkey a conditional date for entry talks. Foreign ministers threw their weight behind a Franco-German plan to open talks with Turkey in July 2005 if it passes a human rights review in late 2004.

The German Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer, said EU ministers were "overwhelmingly positive" about the plan.

But these terms were rejected by Ankara. Turkey was backed by several member states, including the UK, who want to bring the potential starting date for talks forward. Mr Straw said that the views of the 15 member states had converged, adding: "now the position is coalescing around a firm date – the question is when."

The offer made to Turkey will depend in part on its cooperation with a UN plan to resolve the division of Cyprus. Ankara is seen as a key player in persuading the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash, to accept the deal.

EU leaders also want Turkey to implement promised changes, notably stamping out torture, freeing political prisoners and reducing the political influence of the military, before it starts talks on EU membership.