France to open jobs market to Central Europeans

WARSAW (Reuters) - France will fully open its labor market to workers from the eight central European countries which joined the European Union in 2004, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday.

France, unlike Britain and Ireland, exercised its right temporarily to exclude workers from Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and other central European countries when they joined.

"France has decided to lift all restrictions (on workers from the new member states) as of July 1," Sarkozy told a joint news conference with Polish President Lech Kaczynski during a one-day visit to Warsaw.

In Brussels, European Employment Commissioner Vladimir Spidla welcomed Sarkozy's announcement.

"Most countries have already opened so the French are rather late, but it remains a good decision. Throwing the labor market wide open will be beneficial not only in France but also in other countries which have not yet done so," Spidla said.

EU officials say only Germany, Belgium, Denmark and Luxembourg now retain restrictions on the free movement of workers from the 2004 entrants, which also include Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia.

French restrictions will remain for now for Bulgaria and Romania, which joined the EU in 2007.

Under the terms of the EU's enlargement, all member states must fully open their jobs market to the 2004 entrants by 2011.

Around one million immigrants from the new member states, many of them Poles, have arrived in Britain since 2004, though about half of them have since returned home, partly due to strong economic growth across the ex-communist region.

Economists say the big influx of Polish and other central European workers has boosted economic growth in Britain and helped plug labor shortages in some sections of its economy.

However, critics say the immigration has put severe strain on health, education and other services in some areas.

France has traditionally been more protectionist on economic issues than Britain and has feared central European immigrants would undercut French workers by accepting lower wages.

Poland, with 38 million people, is by far the largest of the new EU member states. Its economy grew by 6.6 percent in 2007 and is expected to expand by a further 5.5 percent this year.

(Writing by Gareth Jones, editing by Gerrard Raven)