Dutch Farmers Don't Want Bulgarian, Romanian Workers Kicked Out

Dutch Social Affairs Minister Henk Kamp has been criticized by farmers over trying to restrict Bulgarians and Romanians from the country's labor market. File photo

Dutch farmers have protested against Social Affairs Minister Henk Kamp's initiative to restrict Bulgarian and Romanian workers from the country's labor market.

Bulgarian and Romanian workers will be no longer welcome to the Dutch labor market as proposed by Kamp, the Dutch press recently reported. Starting July 1 2011, Bulgarians and Romanians as well as foreigners from outside the EU will only be granted a work permit in the Netherlands under "exceptional cases," as the Dutch parliament will reportedly back Kemp's proposal.

"We want Bulgarians and Romanians!" farmers from the southerns regions of the Netherlands have stated during their protests, the Bulgarian 24 daily reported Tuesday. The local unemployed do not want to work on the fields or work highly ineffectively, the farmers have explained. Bulgarians and Romanians, however, work very fast and in exchange for smaller salaries.

The farmers have said that they are going to sue Henk Kamp if he does not withdraw his proposal by Monday afternoon.

The Netherlands is one of the ten EU member states that have kept job restrictions on citizens of the two countries that joined the EU in 2007. Belgium, Germany, Ireland, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Austria, the UK and Malta

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