The Greek government made a historic decision Tuesday by lifting the labor restrictions on Bulgarian and Romanians citizens starting January 1, 2009, the BGNES news agency reported.
The Greek Employment Minister has notified formally the European Commission that Greece would no longer apply the labor restrictions provisions after the expiration of the first two-year transitional period after Bulgaria and Romania's EU accession on January 1, 2007.
Thus, Bulgarian citizens would be free not only to travel freely but also to work at Bulgaria's only neighbor belonging to the old fifteen EU member states.
The Greek government has decided that this move would reduce the number of illegal workers, and would not hurt its own workers as the Bulgarians and Romanians were equally competitive to the Greeks.