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Britain plans to scrap its open-door policy to east European workers by restricting the inflow of Bulgarian and Romanian immigrants when their countries join the European Union, British newspapers reported Sunday.

Britain was one of three EU members, along with Sweden and Ireland, that gave unfettered access to workers from eight other eastern European countries that joined the bloc in 2004.
 
The government said in August that more than 400,000 workers from the eight countries had come to Britain, far higher than official forecasts that between 5,000 and 13,000 new immigrants would arrive each year.

That prompted calls from the opposition Conservatives and some members of the ruling Labor Party for Prime Minister Tony Blair's government to restrict immigration from Bulgaria and Romania when they join the bloc in January.

The Observer said Interior Minister John Reid's plans had not yet been cleared by cabinet colleagues, but he intended to announce time-limited controls on the right of citizens from Bulgaria and Romania to work in Britain.

He was expected to say Britain will take a limited number of unskilled workers from Bulgaria and Romania to do jobs such as fruit-picking, but will not offer a general right to work, The Observer said.

The Sunday Times said Reid's plans, to be unveiled this week, would entail Romanians and Bulgarians having to show they could fill specific skills gaps before they could work in Britain.

The move reflected a determination by ministers to end low-skilled migration to Britain, it said.

Before Reid's new policy, private government research estimated that between 60,000 and 140,000 Bulgarians and Romanians would enter Britain following the countries' EU entry, The Sunday Times said.

It said the new policy would ban "tens of thousands" of unskilled workers from the two countries from working in Britain.

The British Government said in August it had introduced a managed immigration policy, using a points system to match up skills needed with immigration.

Policymakers say competition from east European workers has helped keep wage inflation in check, easing the pressure for higher British interest rates.

But critics say the new immigrants are undercutting wage rates of British workers, driving down living standards. Romanian Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu said in a newspaper interview last month that Romania's accession to the EU would not trigger a surge of emigration from the country.

(China Daily October 23, 2006)