This is not the place to discuss the relative merits of EU withdrawal. However the reality is that imposing immigration control on other EU states is no more and no less "impossible" than the imposition of immigration controls on Australians and Canadians in 1962 might have looked a few years prior to that.OL7MAX wrote:We both know that there's more chance of Tony Blair learning how to turn water into wine.renegotiation or withdrawal from the EU entirely
It's been 15 years since similar provisions applied. The transition periods for Spain and Portugal ended on 1.1.92 (the 7 years got reduced to 6 IIRC).OL7MAX wrote:Do you know what this seven year period actually means on the ground? Would they be restricted from coming to the UK... or just from working? If it's the latter then won't there likely be massive numbers of them coming to work illegally? They could stay for a few months, return to Bulgaria and re-enter the UK as many times as they wanted. And as their incomes there are roughly 1/10the of what they are here is the UK government preparing for a massive increase in illegal workers come Jan 2007?a seven year transition period
I don't have a copy of the Immigration Rules as they applied then but as I understand it, while Spanish and Portuguese citizens did not require United Kingdom visas to visit the UK, Immigration Officers were still free to refuse entry in cases of non-genuine visitors.
As to the relative disparity of incomes between these countries and the UK, I very much doubt that real living standards are 10 times higher in the UK compared to Romania. Even if some figures make it appear so, cost of living would partially compensate for that. Greece was a fairly poor country when it joined the EU in 1981. By the time the transition period ended in 1988 I don't recall a mass migration of Greeks to West Germany.