France Expands List of Jobs Accessible to Romanians, Bulgarians

France is expanding the list of jobs accessible to Bulgarian and Romanian nationals from 150 to 291. Photo by novini.bg

France will ease access to its labor market for Bulgarians and Romanians, dropping restrictions for a total of 291 jobs (up from the current 150) in sectors where employers find it hard to recruit staff.

The announcement came Thursday from France's interior and employment ministries.

The expanded list of jobs to which Romanian and Bulgarian nationals includes hairdressing, car bodywork repairs, moving services, green space maintenance, and management of kitchen staff.

The full list covers most sectors, including hospitality, agriculture, fishing, industry, commerce, maintenance services, IT, banks and finance.

The ordinance signed by Interior Minister Manuel Valls and Labor Minister Michel Sapin is dated October 1 and is to be published in Bulgaria's State Gazette soon.

The easing of labor restrictions in France was announced on August 22 alongside the revocation of a tax which employers had to pay to hire Bulgarian or Romanian nationals.

France is one of a number of European Union Member States which declined to grant Bulgarian and Romanian workers unrestricted access to their labor markets following the two countries' 2007 accession to the European Union.

One of the EU's founding principles is that citizens should be able to work in any member state, and the transitional arrangements permitted when Bulgaria and Romania joined must be phased out by the end of 2013 in any case.

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