Romania has asked the Government not to impose restrictions on its citizens coming to work in Ireland when it joins the EU.
It has also warned that it would consider introducing reciprocal restrictions on Irish people working in Romania if Ireland does not fully open its labour market.
Romanian foreign minister Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu told The Irish Times that Ireland should not fear a deluge of Romanian workers after accession. He also warned against politicising the immigration debate in pre-electoral discussions and stoking fears about criminality.
"I would like to disparage the image of a country that is now like Middle Ages barbarians knocking down the barriers of a civilised Europe with its own problems. This is not the case," he said. "It is a civilised country, one of the most promising countries in terms of economy, if I was in your stead I would invest in Romania."
Mr Ungureanu said he expected Ireland and the other EU states to open their labour markets to Romanian citizens as this is a "basic principle of EU membership".
"It is one of the four basic freedoms, we as European citizens should enjoy . . . in any event I don't presume that you will never be faced with a large number of Romanians asking for work permits," said Mr Ungureanu, who noted that relatively few Romanians had sought permits to work in either Britain or Ireland in recent years.
Mr Ungureanu also said his government would consider applying reciprocal restrictions on Irish workers in Romania if Ireland kept its labour market closed. Poland and Hungary have imposed similar reciprocal measures against workers from other EU states, such as Germany and Austria who have not opened their labour markets to their citizens. He made his comments just a few weeks before the European Commission publishes its final monitoring report on Romania and Bulgaria's bid to join the Union. Most diplomats expect this will recommend that both states join the EU in January 2007.
Ireland, Britain and Sweden were the only three EU states to fully open their labour markets to workers from the 10 states that joined the Union in May 2004. But Government sources indicate that restrictions are likely to be placed on migrant workers from Romania and Bulgaria, in part due to the large influx of workers from states such as Poland, Latvia and Lithuania over the two years since the 2004 enlargement.
However, a report on migration due to be published today at the European Parliament concludes that migrants from central Europe have played a hugely positive role in Ireland's economic boom.
"The Irish economy has reached a milestone in its history with two million people in jobs. This outstanding economic performance is assisted by migrant workers without whom, vacancies would probably remain unfilled," says the report "Who's still afraid of EU enlargement?" by the non-governmental organisation European Citizen Action Service.
It notes a trend in most western European countries for the native population to become more and more reluctant to do certain jobs because of a higher level of education. "Therefore, there is little probability that migrants crowd out nationals on the labour market," says the report, which notes that migration from central Europe is usually for a limited period only, on average between one to one and a half years.
The report downplays the prospect of a large influx of migrants from Romania and Bulgaria to Ireland or Britain after their accession to the EU.