One year after Poland joined the European Union, 65,000 Poles have left the central European country to work in other member states, Polish foreign ministry official Zbigniew Kruzynski said Monday.
If seasonal workers are included in the tally, 450,000 Poles have worked in other EU member states in the 12 months since Poland joined the bloc on May 1 last year, Kruzynski told participants in a conference of local authority officials from 19 EU states.
A survey published last week showed that Poles are less interested now in working in other EU member states than they were before Poland joined the bloc.
Before Poland joined the EU on May 1 last year, 54 percent of Poles said they were not interested in working in the EU. Nearly one year on, the percentage has risen to 74 percent, according to a poll conducted by the Center for Studies on Public Opinion (CBOS).
Fifteen percent of the 1,025 people polled early last month said at least one member of their family worked in another EU member state.
Most had gone to neighbouring Germany to work (28 percent), followed by Britain (21 percent), Italy (11 percent), Ireland and the Netherlands, both with seven percent.
When the EU expanded by 10 members on May 1 last year, most older EU member states opted to keep their job markets closed to workers from the new members including Poland, during a transition period of at least two years, extendable to five or seven years.
The only exceptions were Britain, Ireland and Sweden.
Seasonal workers from new EU member states are allowed into Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain on a quota basis.
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