Free movement is non-negotiable!

PM Cameron reiterated for Financial Times his concerns of a possible impact of the work migration from Romania and Bulgaria on UK starting 1st January 2014. Free movement is a fundamental pillar of the single market that Britain and all other Member States have signed up to.

Free movement is not separable from the single market. You cannot have free movement of services and capital in our single market without free movement of persons. You cannot have the right to establish your companies in Bucharest or Sofia to benefit from low production cost, without accepting workers from Romania and Bulgaria in your country.

British companies are benefitting from Europe-wide free movement of goods, services and capital. British banks and British telecoms companies benefit from the freedom of establishment across the single market comprising 28 countries, including Romania and Bulgaria. And British tourists benefit from the freedom to spend their holidays in Eastern European countries on low-cost budget.

The single market means free movement of capital, of goods, of services and of persons. This is the spirit of the Treaty and the Commission should apply it rigorously to all attempts to restrict only one part of free movement.

Free movement is non-negotiable - as long as you are a member of this Union and this single market.