The European Parliament passed on Tuesday a resolution which supports the full opening of EU labour markets to Bulgarian and Romanian citizens from January 2012.

The resolution notes that "no negative effects have been reported in those Member States that have allowed workers from Member States that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007 onto their labour markets". The resolution was drafted by Romanian MEP Traian Ungureanu.

"Official figures, including figures from the Commission, proved that workers from Eastern Europe did not generate unemployment and did not put pressure on the social welfare systems. On the contrary, the influx brought economic growth in the destination countries evaluated at around 1 per cent of the GDP," Ungureanu said in Monday's debate.

MEPs call on Member States to review their rules on transitional periods and urge those Member States that still impose restrictions on Bulgarian and Romanian citizens to remove them by the end of 2011, before the final deadline of 2013 laid down in the EU Accession Treaty.

"In the long run, these restrictions can have a detrimental impact on fundamental values and rights enshrined in the EU treaties, such as free movement, non-discrimination, solidarity and equal rights," the resolution says.

MEPs also deplore recent legislative proposals in some Member States to reimpose labour market access restrictions on citizens from some other Member States and call on the Commission to investigate whether such policies infringe EU law.

The resolution expressed concern about EU Member States' poor transposition into national law and enforcement of EU legislation on the free movement of workers and especially Directive 2004/38/EC on the right of citizens and their family members to move and reside freely in the EU. If necessary, the Commission should exercise its right to initiate infringement procedures against non-compliant Member States, they said.

Current procedures for recognising professional qualifications are another big obstacle to workers' mobility in the EU, notes the resolution, which calls on the Commission to reform current EU rules in this area.

Labour market restrictions on Bulgarians and Romanians are still in place in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, France, Britain and Ireland. This last summer Spain reimposed a labour market restriction on Romanian citizens.