FREE MOVEMENT OF WORKERS : SPAIN AUTHORISED TO EXTEND RESTRICTIONS ON ROMANIANS.

Restrictions on the free movement of Romanian workers imposed by Spain will continue to apply in 2013. On 20 December 2012, the European Commission adopted a decision authorising Madrid to deny - this year again - to Romanian workers free access to its territory. "It is at this time appropriate that restrictions should continue to apply for employed activities in the entire territory of Spain and to all sectors in view of the specific current situation in the Spanish labour market," the Commission explained in its Decision 2012/831/EU, published on 22 December in the Official Journal of the EU. This derogation to Articles 1 to 6 of Regulation 492/2011 on free movement of Romanian workers within the Union is nothing new: after having opened its labour market to all EU citizens on 1 January 2009, Spain was authorised in mid-2011 to temporarily suspend free...