Olympic Village 'built by Romanians'

 By Tom Whitehead

Dr Ion Jinga suggested UK restrictions designed to limit the number of migrant workers from Romania and Bulgaria had been useless because it was “always possible to find a job”. 

He said regardless of the limits, those who have wanted to come have done so and claimed the Olympic Park in London would not have been built without them. 

It came as the Bulgarian foreign minister said Britain should be thankful of migrants for boosting the UK economy. 

The UK placed an annual quota on low-skilled workers from Romania and Bulgaria when the two countries joined the EU in 2007. 

The aim was to limit numbers to 25,000 a year but migrants have been exploiting EU rules on free movement where a country cannot impose restrictions on the self-employed. 

There are concerns tens of thousands more will come each year after the formal restrictions end next year and the Coalition is under pressure to consider new measures to curb numbers. 

But Dr Jinga, the Romanian ambassador to the UK, yesterday revealed workers are already circumventing restrictions. 

He said: “Those Romanians who have wanted to come to Britain, they have already done it. 

"There are some restrictions for some areas of activities but no visa requirements, so those who have wanted to come, they have done it. 

"It is always a possibility to find a job, even if it is under restrictions, and that solution is to declare yourself self-employed, and many Romanians have done so. 

“For instance in the construction sector, there are many Romanians here and that is why your Olympic Village was built up last year.” 

The limits on Romania and Bulgaria were imposed after a failure to do so following the 2004 EU enlargement led to hundreds of thousands of migrant workers from Poland, Lithuania and other Eastern European countries heading to the UK. 

However, under the same EU rules, controls can only be imposed for seven years meaning the Romania and Bulgaria limits end in 2014. 

It means 29 million Bulgarians and Romanians will gain the right to live and work unrestricted in Britain and ministers have warned that there could be an "influx" in the UK. 

Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, is among those who has urged the Government to consider new measures. 

A report by the campaign group Migration Watch UK warned in January that up to 70,000 migrants could arrive each year as a result. 

However, Dr Jinga said fears that many Romanians would come to the UK was a "false problem". 

"Romanians' immigration pattern is not towards the UK but towards Spain, Italy and France, for instance because of the language proximity, Romanian being a Latin language. 

"We have one million Romanians already living and working in Spain, one million in Italy, probably half a million in France." 

His comments were echoed by the Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov who said many of his compatriots would much rather travel to Germany, Spain and Italy. 

He said: "I do not expect the UK to be overwhelmed by a wave of our nationals coming over seeking employment for a number of reasons. 

"The UK would not be the primary country of choice for many people to go and work. Our economy is mostly connected to the German economy. 

"We have a large number of companies working in places like Spain and Italy, where we have long-standing traditions and where the labour market had opened to Bulgarians quite some time ago. 

"I really don't believe that there is a need to have these fearful debates that are happening. 

"On the contrary, I think people in the United Kingdom, given your history, must understand that immigration has always been beneficial to your economy, just as Britain's membership of the European Union has been beneficial to not only jobs creation but prosperity in your country." 

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "We are working to cut net migration from hundreds of thousands to tens of thousands by the end of this Parliament and our tough new rules are already taking effect with overall net migration falling by a quarter in the past year. 

"In terms of European immigration, we are working closely with other government departments to look at the pull factors that may encourage EU nationals, including those from Bulgaria and Romania, to come to the UK.”