mr president the current economic crisis requires resolute action towards the effective completion of the internal market
if we are not ready to open our markets including the labour market to all european citizens the losses will be higher than the gains
recent studies undertaken by the european commission have proved that opening our labour market will be beneficial and that worries concerning job losses due to labour migration are totally unfounded
this sort of scaremongering has been proved wrong again and again
in two thousand and six british experts estimated that three hundred zero romanians would flood britain in search of jobs
they are still looking for them
nothing of the kind happened
the truth is that there is no rational reason to maintain the labour barrier for romanian and bulgarian workers
past experience shows that workers from eastern member states fill a gap in the labour market and take jobs that are not wanted or are not fully covered by the local workforce
moreover there is no way romanians and bulgarians will arrive in western europe to take advantage of its generous welfare system
both romania and bulgaria have high enrolment rates in secondary and tertiary education
both countries have a highly skilled resilient workforce
if the eu wants to make full use of its resources in these times of crisis then political trust and economic openness should be properly established between member states
to quote president barroso's speech of two days ago in this house we either swim together or sink separately
to paraphrase this we either work together or get unemployed separately
