Romania's Basescu hits out at Malta’s ‘unjustified’ closure of its labour market

Addressing ambassadors in Bucharest, President Basescu said that it was "completely unjustified" for any EU member state to shut the door for Romanian citizens.

He said that his government will "continue to insist and achieve the entire liberalisation of the EU labour market for Romanians."

Nine of the eleven EU member states that applied work restrictions for Romanians informed the European Commission in time that they will not open their labour markets yet, the European Commission said on January 6.

Malta is among the 11 EU states that kept shut its market for Romanians and Bulgarians at the end of 2011.

Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, France, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Austria and the UK are also keeping their labour market shut for Romanians and Bulgarians.

Italy and the Czech Republic have informed the European Commission that they were complying by  EU legislation regarding the free movement of workers as of last January 1.

The Commission reiterated that all EU labour market restrictions must be lifted by December 31, 2013 at the latest.