French PM Supports Bid to Open Labor Market for Bulgarians, Romanians

French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has expressed his hope to see a "development" regarding the country's labor market restrictions for Bulgarian and Romanian workers.

Ayrault is to host a meeting of ministers on the issue of Bulgarian and Romanian Roma in France after the government launched its latest campaign this month to drive them from their camps.

President Francois Hollande and his Interior Minister Manuel Valls have been criticized this summer for sanctioning the dismantling of several Roma camps and repatriating hundreds of their residents to Bulgaria and Romania.

On Wednesday, Ayrault defended the actions of Manuel Valls, pointing out that Roma slums had grown in size.

Critics have argued that France-based Roma are subject to deportation because they cannot demonstrate that they are able to support themselves but, at the same time, they cannot seek work legally.

France, as well as all other EU countries, must lift labor market restrictions for Bulgarian and Romanian citizens by January 1, 2014, as the two countries' EU accession treaties provide.

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