European Union (Accessions) Bill

No. As we have done for people from the accession countries, we will allow people from Romania and Bulgaria to come here to use their skills and contribute to our economy. However, we still face a problem. If a joiner or plumber, for example, comes here from one of the 10 accession countries, it is not suitable to give him the minimum wage. Joiners, plumbers and electricians should get the proper wage for their skills. The trade unions must try to do more to enlighten workers who come to this country about the conditions of employment and wages that they should expect. The freedom of movement for workers also presents a question for the Government. The Government should provide all people who come to this country to work from the 10 accession countries, Romania and Bulgaria—including the 230,000 who are already here—with correct information about what they should expect for the skills that they are bringing. Everyone would benefit from such an arrangement. The people involved would be paid proper wages. It would mean that unrest would not be caused because of other workers thinking that their trades or professions were being undercut. We would thus have a much happier movement of workers. The hon. Member for Ribble Valley (Mr. Evans) asked whether we should screen people and look only for those who can bring high levels of skills to our shores. It would be wrong to do that because, as has been said, one could question whether we would be denuding countries of their doctors and nurses, for example. People should see the attitude of this country and the EU as allowing free movement for workers so that they can go to countries, develop their skills and become better qualified, and then take better skills back to their country. Experience shows that there is a short period of outward migration as countries accede to the EU, but people then return to their own countries with better skills and the income or capital with which they can try to build up those countries. I think that that pattern will be seen with the 10 countries that have come in, as well as Romania and Bulgaria. When I was in Bucharest, I raised the matter of the Roma people in Romania and Bulgaria. I have also raised that point in the House and hope to do so when I visit Bulgaria. In my youth, I thought that Roma people were the equivalent of Romany Gypsies, and thus people of European origin, albeit with a transient lifestyle. There are several encampments for travelling people in my area and I know those people well. When I spoke to Roma people from Romania and the Roma people who came to the House to discuss their problems, I discovered that they referred to themselves as the dark people. They were clearly of Asian or Indian origin. They said that they had been on the move for thousands of years and then landed in those countries and were, in a sense, frozen in time. They said that many of them were highly skilled. Indeed, it was pointed out that the Roma people brought the skill of metallurgy to those countries from the Asian sub-continent—it was not present before they arrived. Many of them are productive members of society. Roma people in Bucharest and others to whom I have spoken told me that their community is marginalised and that their people has always felt marginalised. We must tackle the question of what will happen to Roma people who might wish to move permanently, or for short periods while they are in transit. Romania and Bulgaria have not tackled those problems properly. I hope we accept that everyone should be included in the process of access. The explanatory notes say that there are different proposals for the freedom of movement of workers. They relate to two years, after the third year and after seven years, which, in a sense, is a get-out clause. I hope that we will not review that negatively and will always think positively about how we can include more of those people who might not at the moment be thought of as highly skilled workers, to whom the hon. Member for Ribble Valley referred. Our part in Europe is to put together an agreement among countries that relates to all people. Yes, we need to deal with fraud, inadequate administration and the unacceptable attributes in the accession countries, but we can lift those countries to a standard with which we are all happy.