European Nations to Open Markets in Poland

European Nations to Open Markets in Poland

By VANESSA GERA Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

WARSAW, Poland — Maja Checinska is reaping the rewards of waiting.

For several weeks, the Polish architect has been living in a Madrid apartment, biding her time until a construction company can legally put her on the payroll. She's been promised a cash bonus for her patience _ her only instructions being to familiarize herself with Spanish building norms and refuse all other job offers.

Checinska owes her luck to new labor rules: On May 1, Spain, Portugal and Finland join Britain, Ireland and Sweden in ending all restrictions to workers from new EU member states.

"My new company really wanted me because they plan to open an office in Poland in a couple of years and see me as someone who can help them with that," said Checinska, 25. "But they wanted to hire me legally _ and without the bother of applying for any special documents."

For young workers from Poland and the seven other former Soviet bloc countries that joined the EU in 2004, the gradual labor market liberalization has meant opportunities their parents' generation could hardly have imagined.

Some of the workers benefiting from the lifting of labor restrictions are so young they lose sight of the historic change this marks for Poles, Lithuanians, Czechs and the others who, until 16 years ago, were trapped behind the Iron Curtain and banned from traveling freely to the West.

In the case of Checinska, her parents faced the frightening choice of emigrating to Australia for good or sticking it out under communism _ and chose to stay. "I'm living out their dreams now," Checinska said.

Since 2004, the new EU members _ eight eastern European countries along with Malta and Cyprus _ have seen their citizens board budget flights to Britain, Ireland and Sweden in large numbers to seek jobs.

No country has sent more workers than Poland, whose 38 million people make it the largest EU newcomer by far, and whose jobless rate of 18 percent _ the highest in the EU _ pushes many, especially the young, to seek a better life elsewhere. About 200,000 Poles have registered to work in Britain since 2004, with some 100,000 in Ireland and 8,000 in Sweden.

But even more _ up to 1 million Poles _ are believed to be working now throughout Europe, sometimes illegally in countries like Germany that haven't formally opened their labor markets, said Krystyna Iglicka, a migration expert with the Center of International Relations in Warsaw.

Nine old EU member states _ including Germany and France _ are expected to maintain restrictions on workers from EU newcomers for at least another two years.

Though May marks a new stage in the expanding labor market, migration experts expect the new round of departures to pale in comparison with the large numbers that have already left for Britain and Ireland _ whose strong economies and low jobless rates make them the biggest draw.

Other factors include the strong pound, which Poles can exchange for Polish zlotys at advantageous rates; the fluency in English many Poles already have; and a tradition going back to World War II of mass migrations of Poles to Britain _ where Poland's government-in-exile was also based during the Nazi occupation.

Those networks mean newcomers often have family and friends there to help them get started, Iglicka said.

But as they launch their new lives and help ease the crisis of high unemployment for their home countries, these modern migrants are also presenting new challenges to the lands they leave behind.

"In this situation, you lose the most active elements because the less exciting people stay at home and drink," said Krzysztof Bobinski, an analyst at Unia & Polska, a pro-EU organization. "I wouldn't call it a 'brain drain' because that term makes me think of rocket scientists. But it is a hemorrhaging and I don't think it's going to do Poland any good in the long run."

Emigration is also depriving Poland and the neighboring Baltics of much-needed labor, threatening to slow some of the EU's fastest-growing economies. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which are home to just 7.2 million residents, estimate the numbers that have left are in the tens of thousands _ possibly more.

Poland has already noticed a dangerous shortage of anesthesiologists. And the western Polish city of Wroclaw is so concerned departures could cause a shortage of skilled workers in coming years _ and dampen a local investment boom _ that it plans an advertising campaign in Britain this September letting Poles know attractive jobs await them back home.

Baltic construction companies have been particularly hard hit, and several have begun looking east to Russia and Belarus for workers.

Lithuanian Rimantas Bublys said his company, Vigysta, had to cast aside any and all standards for employee behavior just to keep its projects moving forward.

"Two years ago we used to fire our workers who were lazy or had drinking problems," Byblys said. "Today we cannot afford to fire anyone because there are no replacements available. Our business would simply stop."

___

Associated Press writers Tim Jacobs in Latvia, Liudas Dapkus in Lithuania, Jari Tanner in Estonia and Pablo Gorondi in Hungary contributed to this report.