EU Accession draws closer

With the 1st May drawing ever close it seems that British employers are less and less sure how the government is going to deal with EU enlargement. The powers that be were quick to offer an immediate "open door" policy to all citizens of the new Eastern European states, freedom to work will be enjoyed automatically under the accession traty by Cypriot and Maltese nationals from the date of accession. only a handful of other EU members have taken the same decision as the UK. Our decision is by no means cast in stone, alterations can be made right up until the accession date and after it has passed.

Under the Accession Treaty, nationals of all the new member states (Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuanis, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia) have the right for all purposes envisaged by the founding treaties - except for work, current member states are covered by optional restrictions for up to a maximum of seven years after accession. Countries such as France and Germany have already invoked these restrictions allowing anything from 2 to 7 years to ensure that the labour markets can digest tne newcomers smoothly.

As it stands from the 1st may any National from the 8 new EU member countries will be able to enter the Uk and take up full time employment within any industry. Potential employers of these workers are recommended to make contact with their local Job Centres or social security offices to arrange NI numbers prior to May 1st. Some of the migrants heading over to the West will have worked in the Uk before under schemes such as SAWS. These workers will never have been subject to NI contributions; it is highly probably that they will be unaware that they are obliged to contribute like any other employee. With a net immigration level currently of 150,000 a year, there is a fear that this will swell into an unmanageable level. However if legal means of entry are not provided for accession states, i suspect that many will still travel, but will place themselves into the black market and thus into working illegally.

it is hoped that the abuse of UK entry visas such as the student visa will reduce after accession. However, Eastern Europeans from countries such as Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine who are still on EU membership waiting list will still be seeking ways to enter and work in the UK. The majority of the 300,000 student visas that were issued in 2003 were for legitimate students to study at a university, private education institution or an independent fee paying school. However, the system hass seen faltered over the last few years, with abuse arising within the UK through the creation of false colleges and academic institutions and abuse outside the Uk from third parties offering the documentation needed to obtain a student visa.

If you are considering employing someone who is in the UK on a student visa here are a few facts:

- a Student visa only allows part time work of up to twenty hours per week in term time.
- In holidays the student is allowed to worko full time
- If looking to work over twenty hours per week whilst in holidays the student must be able - to propvide the employer with a letter from the appripriate   educational institute confirming the date holiday commenced and the date their studies resume.
- The institute where the student is studying must be accredited by the British Council or the BALEAP (British Association of Lecturers in English Academic Purposes).

With the accession remainds the question of the common agricultural policy. One would assume that it must be in a process of reform, albeit a slow one. After the 1st May the EU agricultural area will increase by 13.5%. Polands combined number of farms is larger than the whole of France and germany's put together, there is somewhere in the region of 100million fruit trees in Poland alone. Soft fruit production is in excess of 400,000 tonnes per year, of which raspberries, strawberries and redcurrants are the dominant. The farms from these area will be facing competition from amongst others French imports, who will be receiving subsidies  four times as high as theirs at the beginning of the transition period. This unbalanced market that these countries will now be trading in may well cause problems of unemployment and perhaps lead to migration. We will just have to wait and see what accession brings.

Winter 2003