A farcical furore over Romanians in London reminds us why restricting labour migration in a free Europe is wrongheaded
When Romania and Bulgaria became member states of the European Union in January, one question loomed large in many minds: would the flood of "Polish plumbers" into the labour markets of western member states now be supplemented by a surge of Romanian repairmen and Bulgarian bricklayers?
The answer has not been clear, so far. Gradual news is hard to measure and awkward to report. With no obvious surge, the question seemed to fade from public consciousness.
Then one crisp April morning, Daniel, a 23-year-old Romanian, woke up outdoors in central London. He had spent the night in Hyde Park alongside fellow migrant labourers, in an encampment partly concealed by trees, he said. So went the story from BBC's Newsnight, whose report on Romanian migrants "sleeping rough" invited outrage from viewers.
From a British perspective, the image of migrants camping illegally in the park looked like evidence that especially desperate migrants had begun to arrive.
From a Romanian perspective, it looked worrying, like a gag to stoke anti-immigrant paranoia in another western EU country already taking steps to restrain labour migration from the new EU member states. Britain will allow no more than 20,000 unskilled Romanian workers to join its registered workforce this year.
Daniel, Newsnight's interviewee, told Romanian television journalists that he no longer slept in the park and that he had been paid by the BBC for his interview. The Romanian charge d'affaires in London issued a complaint to the BBC, accusing Newsnight of "stage managing" its report and "stereotyping" its coverage of Romanians, The Times reported.
The BBC has held its ground, leaving the minor media furore in stalemate.