Of one-way streets, fear and Eastern Europe

The eastwards expansion of the EU has neither brought a great wave of immigrants to Austria nor led Austrian companies to relocate in Eastern Europe, Die Presse newspaper writes: "This is not good news for the fearmongers: Even if it opens its labour market Austria will not be flooded with people from Central and Eastern Europe. ... Austria's neighbouring states will soon need their own workers thanks to their positive economic development and aging workforce. And they will have to pay these people increasingly high wages because the problem of a shrinking workforce is even more acute in these countries than in Austria. ... Despite all the fears following the eastward expansion Austria is far better off than many believed. This is because opening up the market has never been a one-way street but has helped and continues to help reduce the imbalances."

» full article (external link, German)

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