Norway's open border brings few Romanians

The richest country in Europe with a generous welfare state,  Norway could be expected to be a top draw for low-salaried Eastern Europeans. 

 

But between January and December 2013, it saw just 4,904 Romanians and Bulgarians registering for work using their European Economic Area (EEA) citizenship, a rise of just 24 percent on the year before, when they needed to apply for special work permits. 

 

In the UK, many of warned that lifting border restrictions on the two countries would lead to excessive immigration, with the pressure group Migration Watch warning that as many as 50,000 workers a year will flood into the country.

 

The panic at the end of last year, pushed the UK's Prime Minister to rush through legislation limiting the access of Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants to benefits. 

 

But in the event, few new workers appear to have arrived. 

 

What has most divided Norwegians has been the arrival of Roma people -- numbering in hundreds rather than thousands -- who have started begging in city centres and camping out in sites in the surrounding countryside. 

 

"If these people can not survive on their own and most of the time commit crimes, we should just get a bus and send them home,"  Siv Jensen, the leader of the right-wing Progress Party said in 2012 at the height of the controversy.

 

Others argued that Norway should provide a refuge for some of the most discriminated against people in Europe. 

 

Since Jensen joined Norway's new government as Finance Minister, however, her rhetoric has softened and a campaign pledge to bring in a national begging ban appears to have been dropped. 

Source: Norwegian Directorate of Immigration