He does not believe in referendums, agrees that restrictions for migrant workers were a good decision, wants Turkey to join the EU and cannot see the UK joining the euro zone or Schengen in the near future. Labour party member since 1986, Chris Bryant is Great Britain’s Minister of State for Europe and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. In an exclusive interview for HotNews.ro, Chris Bryant answers our readers' questions.
On migration
R: The UK government was a strong supporter of EU's enlargement process, but afterwards it decided to close its labour market for Romanians and Bulgarians. How would you comment this seemingly contradictory policy?
C. Bryant: When the people from such and such country came earlier in the decade, when the A10 countries joined, we were the only country, apart from Ireland and Denmark, to allow people from day one to come and work in the UK. We had estimated a reasonably low number and, in fact, many thousands came to the UK. We decided, because we were in the middle of recession, that we would continue now with a much more targeted approach towards Romania and Bulgaria and I think that this has been the right decision. The difficulty in an area like mine, which is a very poor constituency in South-Wales, is that they might have felt that, in a time like recession, we would be more welcoming to others from other countries.
R: So, in a way, it’s more political than economical?
C. Bryant: No, it’s economical because it’s recession.
R: But the estimated number of Romanians in Great Britain is around 80.000, compared with the large number of Poles here. Romanians do not prefer Britain when it comes to migration, but countries like Italy and Spain, and in Spain they don’t have restrictions, despite a huge Romanian community. @N_P
