Brexit: EU Commissioner sees example of »idiotic« restrictions on labor markets

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Lorries at the port of Liverpool

Photo:

Dave Rushen / dpa

EU Labor Commissioner Nicolas Schmit is convinced that part of the British Brexit problems can be traced back to the stricter rules for foreign workers.

The new visa regulations since the British left the EU are a live example of how "idiotic" it is to say they send foreign workers home, he told the German press agency.

Similar problems would arise in the EU if labor mobility were curtailed.

Construction sites, for example, would then have to be closed.

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Labor and Social Commissioner Nicolas Schmit:

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Metodi Popow / imago images

In Great Britain, the new, strict immigration rules make it difficult to employ foreign skilled workers.

This has led to a lack of truck drivers in the country, for example, who could deliver to supermarkets and petrol stations.

Truck drivers are not only becoming harder to find in Great Britain, however, the effects in the EU countries have so far been less noticeable.

English media also reported on Thursday that London plans to issue up to 1,000 visas for foreign butchers.

more on the subject

• "Pig jam": London wants to bring 1,000 butchers from abroad

• Brexit quarrels between London and Brussels: Why the dispute over Northern Ireland is escalating againBy Jörg Schindler, London

• Visa program for drivers: German logisticians have doubts about British truck campaign

Schmit also sees it as a problem in the EU that demagogues “from the left and mainly from the right” are trying to co-opt the issue for themselves.

This would fuel fears that domestic jobs would be lost to cheap labor from other EU countries.

One recipe, however, is to prevent social dumping and to make working conditions fundamentally fair.

mik / dpa-AFX