President Iohannis: restrictions to free movement need sound justification

Romanian workers in the UK will not be affected by the decisions of the European Council, President Klaus Iohannis assured on Saturday, following the Council's meeting in Brussels. Romania has obtained in negotiation the guarantee of solid reasons for any restriction to the freedom of movement, he added. 

"An agreement was reached on the relation between the United Kingdom and the European Union. (...) For Romania, the major topics were the social benefits and the free movement of labour. I have demanded the full observance in the agreement of the rights of Romanian citizens working in the United Kingdom," the President declared. 

The Council decided the setup of two mechanisms for the UK. 

The first is a safeguard by subsequent modification of European laws to allow EU citizens the access to a restricted set of non-contributory benefits specific to the UK. "This mechanism is non-discriminatory, applicable to all EU citizens, and exceptional. It is applicable for a maximum seven years. Romanian citizens who already work in the UK - this is very important - will not be affected by the mechanism, but they too will recover their access to these benefits gradually, over a four-year period. We have been very much involved in this matter and we are very happy about this outcome of the negotiation," Iohannis detailed. 

The second mechanism allows the UK to index child allowances for children left home by workers of other EU countries. Iohannis pointed out that this mechanism, too does not discriminate among EU citizens. "The UK can apply indexing to allowance requests submitted after the mechanism comes into force. It is important for the EU workers residing in the UK who already get allowances for their children back home; indexing is applicable only from 2020 on. (...) These regulations do not come into force automatically, but are subject to an additional legislative process," the President explained. 

The child allowance mechanism will not be extended to other social benefits. 

"Romania has obtained during the negotiations the amendment of the wording of the [European Council's] decision, to the effect that requests of restricting the freedom of movement of individuals in accordance with Article 45 of the EU Treaty need sound justifications. It is a very important issue, because this avoids situations when merely political decisions are taken without very serious reasons. Romania got this by very diligent, well prepared negotiations, unlike others who spoke perhaps a little more and probably obtained a little less," Iohannis concluded. AGERPRES