Boeri, Tito --- "Jobless growth in South-East Europe, migration and the role of the EU" [2005] ELECD 393; in Liebscher, Klaus; Christl, Josef; Mooslechner, Peter; Ritzberger-Grünwald, Doris (eds), "European Economic Integration and South-East Europe" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2005)

Book Title: European Economic Integration and South-East Europe

Editor(s): Liebscher, Klaus; Christl, Josef; Mooslechner, Peter; Ritzberger-Grünwald, Doris

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781845425173

Section: Chapter 18

Section Title: Jobless growth in South-East Europe, migration and the role of the EU

Author(s): Boeri, Tito

Number of pages: 7

Extract:

18. Jobless growth in South-East
Europe, migration and the role
of the EU
Tito Boeri

1. INTRODUCTION

On 1 May 2004, ten new countries formally joined the European Union
(EU). The new members are small economically ­ they have significantly
lower income per capita levels than the EU-15 ­ but large demographically.
By 2007 the second phase of the Eastern enlargement, involving two key
countries of South-East Europe, namely Bulgaria and Romania, should
take place. By then, the number of EU citizens will have grown by more
than 100 million.
The Eastern part of Europe is growing fast but, especially in its Southern
components, failing to generate jobs. In some of the high-unemployment
areas of the EU-15, such as Andalusia or the Italian Mezzogiorno, an
opposite phenomenon is observed: low growth but decreasing unemploy-
ment. These developments add to income inequalities between old and new
members of the EU another potential source of East­West migration,
namely unemployment differences.
Concerned about this migration potential and under the pressure of
public opinion, governments in the EU-15 are de facto closing their doors
to workers from the new member states (NMS). This is a by-product of a
lack of coordination at the EU level. As there is no agreement at the EU
level on a common set of rules to be applied to the new citizens during the
seven-year transition period, each of the old members has decided to estab-
lish its own rules. In general, ...