EU focus on the free movement has been confined spaces, after Spain recently decided to reinstate the requirement for work permits for some EU citizens. At a ministerial meeting last Friday, it was decided to reinstate the transition period in 2007 was adopted in the EU accession by some Eastern European countries – including Romania. Transitional arrangements apply to 2014, but the Spanish government had already decided five years ago to release the work permit requirement for the new accession countries, after which residents were free to live and work in Spain. The decisions to reintroduce a work permit for Romanian nationals are temporary and are of purely technical nature, assure governmental sources.
.
Crisis and crime
.
After several hectic years of construction boom and a general shortage of labor – especially craftsmen in construction – was the crisis with a galloping unemployment and stagnation in the construction industry. Many of the Romanians, who had been employed in construction and agriculture industry was out of work and constituted the largest group of foreign unemployed in Spain. But also a part of organized crime in Spain is related to Romania. Police have in the past year arrested several gangs of Romanian criminals who were active in Spain.
