Workers from eastern europe, towards full deregulation of the french labour market
On 29 May, during his visit to Poland, Nicolas Sarkozy announced the forthcoming abolition of all immigration barriers for nationals of the eight countries that joined the European Union in 20041. He confirmed that this concerned all trades.
The French labour market is already partially open to these countries, with a list of 150 totally unrestricted trades and professions. However, artists or technicians are not on the list and must be in possession of a work permit in order to be salaried workers.
Subject to publication of the tests, nationals from these eight countries will no longer need a work permit in a few months.
On the other hand, workers from Romania and Bulgaria (which became European Union members on 1 January 2007) are expected to remain subject to special rules (see Accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union, implications ).
1 Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, republic Czech, Slovakia, Hongris, Slovenia
