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A leak from high ranking European Union sources to the German newspaper Die Welt has forced Brussels to announce the inclusion of two more countries to join the EU.
The two countries named by the sources were Bulgaria and Romania. This decision by the European Commission is a success for Brittish Prime Minister Tony Blair, who had been pushing for enlargement of the EU.
The two new member states of the EU will officially become members as of January 1, 2007, and have officially signed an accession treaty. The treaty has a safeguard clause delaying entry for a year if either country fails to meet EU standards before January 1, next year.
Sir Andrew Green, of the Migrationwatch think tank, warned that Ministers should watch what other European countries do with their labour markets. Only Britain, Ireland and Sweden currently allow Eastern European workers full access.
UK Independence Party released in their news that they predict 13,000 Eastern and Central Europeans annually will arrive from overseas to find jobs and better living conditions in the UK.
This means a big decision for the Government. If the other big European countries are going to continue with closed labour markets, it would be most unwise for us to open ours to people from Bulgaria and Romania, said Sir Andrew Green.
Observers believe France, Germany and Austria will continue to ban Central European workers and those from other Eastern countries from being given access to positions of employment in their respective countries.
Tony Blair, Home Secretary Charles Clarke and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw have yet to decide whether citizens from Bulgaria and Romania will be allowed access to jobs in Britain's labour market.
It means the government needs to make an early decision on whether to open up Britain's labour market to workers from Bulgaria and Romania, ban them from taking jobs, or use the registration scheme, reports the Indepedence Party publication.
The combined 3O million citizens of the two new member states have an average income of one tenth of those in Britain, and many of their young workers are expected to move westwards to seek a brighter future.
Details emerged today that three-quarters of the British public are opposed to the Government's open door immigration policy, the survey was conducted by Migrationwatch.
Three quarters of those surveyed said the government should place an annual limit on the number of foreigners arriving, a demand which has been rejected by Mr Clarke the Home Secretary.
The Home Secretary said that the poll by Migrationwatch only covered a small proportion of the United Kingdom's population, and is not accurate.
