UK threatens restrictions on rights of movement of EU citizens, targeting Romania and Bulgaria

British Home Secretary Theresa May (in picture, right) said in an interview with the Sunday Times that she is considering imposing restrictions on immigration to the UK from elsewhere in the EU and Romania and Bulgaria appear the most likely targets. It was part of an avalanche of Europe-hating announcements that British ruling coalition partners, the Conservative Party, made yesterday (October 7 ). PM David Cameron (in picture, left) also threatened to veto the upcoming EU 2014 – 2020 budget, while bragging about scuppering the fiscal governance agreement at a previous EU summit.

May said that the EU's freedom of movement directive should be reviewed, thus attacking one of the Union's founding principals. Essentially her comments call into question the rights of EU citizens to travel, live and work across the member states. She raised concerns over the level of economic migration to the UK and suggested that citizens from some member states could require visas to move to the UK, which is illegal under current European law. The Guardian newspaper warns that any such moves could result in reciprocal restrictions on UK citizens living elsewhere in the EU and the export of services from the UK, an important sector of the country's economy. Her plans include reviewing the automatic right of non-EU partners of EU citizens to reside within the EU. According to the Guardian, the UK Home Office is also considering stricter controls on the rights of citizens from new member states, such as Romania and Bulgaria. Under the current legislation, restrictions can be imposed for a seven year transitional period. Liam Lever, liam@romania-insider.com photo source: Steve Parsons/PA Wire, on UK Home Office flikr site