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Argument: Workers in countries acceding to the EU will not benefit
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Supporting quotations
"european enlargement - advantages for existing eu members" - 2) Labour Market Issues
a) Fears of higher structural unemployment among accession countries – which might lead to large immigration of labour into higher-income countries as well as increasing political and social tensions i) Unemployment in accession countries is already well above the EU average – much of it is long term ii) No guarantee that unemployment will fall following integration with the EU iii) High unemployment creates large economic and social costs and will put accession countries under increasing fiscal pressure (rising budget deficits) b) Fears that enlargement will lead to a huge surge in economic migration from East to West i) Will there be an increase in labour migration from accession countries to the west in search of employment? (Social dumping?) ii) Concerns about organised crime and illegal immigration from Russia, Belarus and the Ukraine through weak Eastern European borders iii) In Germany, Austria and Italy (countries that border accession states) there are intensive political debates about controlling the flow of migrants from former Eastern Europe.
