UK businessmen lobbied for “unlimited immigration from Romania and Bulgaria” before the British prime minister Toni Blair, The Guardian reported.
A number of British public figures are worried that after Bulgaria and Romania's EU entry, a wave of migrant workers will enter the EU labour market, taking the jobs of local workers.
Earlier this summer Blair held a “secret meeting” with the businessmen in the town house of “high-flying financial public relations guru who [was] a close friend of European trade commissioner Peter Mandelson”, The Guardian said.
The businessmen present were representatives of the campaign group Business for New Europe (BFNE). The group supported the “reformed, enlarged and free market EU”, The Guardian said.
Recently BFNE was involved in a campaign for open access of East European workers to the EU labour market, The Guardian said.
“If Bulgaria and Romania join the EU at the beginning of next year, the UK should continue with its open-door policy. A so-called pause in migration from these countries would be tantamount to a reversal of policy and could work against Britain's interest”, a BFNE representative said.
