Nickname: Mike Maurice

Review: It is claimed that Britain, Ireland, and Sweden are "without restrictions" for immigrant labor from the new EU members. That is wrong. All three contries have minimum wages that deprive immigrant workers of their cost advantage over locals. Germany, one of the allegedly "restricted" contries, on the other hand doesn't have any minimum wage. And if you compare the total number of EE workers in the different countries, you'll see that once again Germany tops the list although it officially has "quotas." Well, that's because the quotas apply only to individuals but not to companies from Eastern Europe. Declare yourself to be a one-man-company and your are in. To sum it up, Germany, the country most open to EE labour in practice, is at the same time one with luckluster growth and high unemployment. The alleged "strong economic benefits" seem to be rather mixed in that light.

Date reviewed: Feb 23, 2006 7:25 PM

Nickname: Anton

Review: There is a compromise between achieving standardization and avoiding the drawbacks of the country of origin. The solution would be a "European company." A European company would be regulated by a single set of rules, would pay taxes according to a single tax code and would be able to operate under the same set of rules throughout the EU. Simple competition guidelines could be set forth for each major sector. And taxes could then be allocated by the EU to the interested countries. This way, it would be possible to achieve the desired single standard, while reducing the impact of competition. This solution would not give an incentive to relocation (to countries with lower taxes and more lax regulation). But would still promote cross-border trade in services.

Date reviewed: Feb 23, 2006 7:02 PM