European Union forced to defend one of its founding principles – the free movement of labour between its member states [EN]
February 3, 2009 – 11:04 amUK members of the European Parliament are debating precisely how, if at all, existing rules might have to change to end the dispute at the Lindsey oil refinery in Lincolnshire which has led to various wildcat strikes across the UK.
The row in Lincolnshire centres on the legitimacy or otherwise of the oil firm Total hiring labourers from Italy and Portugal. And so at the heart of the dispute is the EU’s rule book – a document that would make your telephone directory at home look like a mere postcard.
The so-called Acquis Communitaire is around 80,000 pages long, and right up there among the opening principles is the free movement of labour.
It was in the Treaty of Rome back in 1957 when the Common Market or European Economic Community, as it was then called, was set up – and so when Britain signed up in 1973, the country signed up to that rule too.
BBC News: Jobs dispute questions EU rulebook
