The labor market of the Netherlands will remain closed for Bulgarian and Romanian citizens, the Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad reported on Sunday.

The requirement that Bulgarians and Romanians need a special work permit to work in the Netherlands was supposed to be abolished as of January 1, 2009.

However, the Dutch Social Affairs Minister Piet Hein Donner has announced that Bulgarian and Romanian citizens would have to continue to apply for permits to work in the Netherlands until July 1, 2009.

Donner is going to submit a proposal with this measure to the upper chamber of the Dutch Parliament next week.

The proposal to extend the work ban on Bulgarians and Romanians had already received the support of the parliamentary leader of the Labor Party Mariette Hamer, who is quoted as saying that the Dutch labor market could not be open for the two newest EU members until the circumstances with the Polish workers in the Netherlands had not improved.

Unlike Bulgarians and Romanians, the citizens of the ten new EU member states which joined the Union in 2004 enjoy the right to work in the Netherlands without special work permits.

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