ZAGREB, Nov 28 (Hina) - The further enlargement of the European Unionwill probably not provoke intensified migration of Croatian workerstowards 'older' EU member-states. On the other hand, the developmentof Croatia in the coming years
can attract more and more foreignworkers, according to some of the conclusions of a round-tablediscussion on freedom of movement of workers, which was organised inZagreb on Monday by the Institute for Public Finance and the FriedrichEbert foundation.
ZAGREB, Nov 28 (Hina) - The further enlargement of the European
Union will probably not provoke intensified migration of Croatian workers
towards 'older' EU member-states. On the other hand, the development of Croatia
in the coming years can attract more and more foreign workers, according to
some of the conclusions of a round-table discussion on freedom of movement of
workers, which was organised in Zagreb on Monday by the Institute for Public
Finance and the Friedrich Ebert foundation. These assumptions can be
corroborated by the experience from the previous wave of the European bloc's
enlargement, which showed that fears about a huge influx of workers from new
member-states into the old 15 members states were groundless.
"Despite a difference in salaries and a higher unemployment rate in
comparison to old member-states, the mobility of workers from new members was
low," said Mirta Kapural from the Croatian Market Competition Agency.
For instance, in Sweden, which fully opened its labour market for new
members' workers, a rise in the number of working-age population was less than
one percent over the past year, and a majority of new workers came from Poland,
Lithuania and Estonia.