Sweden and Finland are to date the only members of EU15 to confirm they will not introduce restrictions on migrant workers from Bulgaria and Romania when the two countries join the bloc January 1.

"We will not introduce any restrictions for workers from Bulgaria and Romania," Swedish justice ministry spokesman Markus Friberg was quoted as saying.

Sweden did not restrict its labour market to workers from countries that joined the EU in 2004 that included former Soviet-bloc nations plus Cyprus and Malta.

"The effects of enlargement were extremely positive even if they were quite small" for Sweden, Friberg said. The last wave of enlargement involved countries nearer to Sweden than Bulgaria and Romania are, "so we have no reason to believe this (enlargement) would be any different from 2004," he said.

The Scandinavian country's policy required no change in Swedish law and thus was not required to go before parliament, Friberg added.

EU treaties give its citizens the "right" to work throughout the bloc, but transitional delays were able to be imposed on citizens from new member countries.

Sweden together with Britain and Ireland were the only members of the EU to welcome workers from the ten countries, which joined the club in 2004. But London and Dublin announced in October that restrictions would be placed on Bulgarians and Romanians once their countries joined.

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