The EU is set to unveil a proposal to extend access to home country welfare benefits for EU citizens looking for work in other Member States, according to British newspaper the Financial Times. The move, according to FT, could ease concerns over so called benefits tourism by shifting the balance of responsibility towards migrants' home countries, rather than the country in which they are living. The news is of particular interest to Romanians and Bulgarians; the end of transitional controls on the two countries and the loudly voiced fears in the UK and elsewhere over possible levels of migration are certain to form part of the debate on the EU's latest initiatives to remove barriers and extend citizenship rights.

The new proposal is to be released on May 9, according to FT, which has had advanced access to the documents. Unemployment benefits paid by country to its owns citizen seeking work elsewhere in the EU could be extended from three months at present to “at least six,” according to FT.

The EU proposal will contain a range a measures to promote the free movement of labor in the Union, removing barriers and facilitating labor-force mobility, rather than to assuage the immigration fears that are making headlines in several EU countries. But in the current context, the EU's proposals will be judged by many on their potential impact on immigration.

According to Anna Triandafyllidou, professor at the European University Institute, quoted by FT, surveys show that freedom of movement is often the most highly prized of the EU's citizenship rights. FT also quotes EU figures on migration within the Union: only 3 percent of the population have exercised their right to live and work anywhere in the EU, while the richer, Western European Member States have enjoyed an average 1 percent boost to their GDPs as a result of labor mobility post 2004.

Read the FT article: EU plans to extend jobless support from home states for migrants

editor@romania-insider.com