The UK supported the EU enlargement process despite the decision to limit the access of Bulgarian and Romanian workers to the local labour market once the two countries became union members, British prime minister Tony Blair said.

Blair said that some problems related to the accession process were given special attention, once the UK decided to curb the migration wave from the newly accepted member states.

Enlargement was priority for British foreign policy and was going to prove beneficial both for the UK and Europe, Blair said as quoted by Associated Press.

At the same time British analysts said that the country was not able to deal with another wave of migration shortly after the accession of 10 new countries in 2004. A big number of East European workers traveled to the UK shortly after, as it decided to keep an open door policy.

Restrictions would enable Bulgarian and Romanian unskilled workers find employment only in food processing and agriculture.

Each EU member country can impose restrictions to the free access of workers from newly admitted states to its labour market for a period of up to seven years.