BENEFITS OF IMMIGRATION.

• Position: Brief article

The benefits to Western European economies of the immigration of Bulgarians and Romanians far outweigh the costs. This is the conclusion of a study by Joakim Ruist, a research fellow at the University of Gothenburg, based on detailed calculations for Sweden, where Bulgarians and Romanians have been free to work since 2007, and on overall figures for the other 14 EU member states prior to the enlargement to the former Communist bloc.

"My conclusions show that fears being expressed in other European countries about the heavy burden that would be placed on the welfare state as the result of unrestricted immigration from Romania and Bulgaria are not founded," reads a statement released by Ruist, on 14 January. In Sweden, one of the countries most generous with its immigrants and also the state...