The Council of Ministers adopted a royal decree on 21st April which sets out the lists of professions for which there is a shortage of labour and for which work permits will be granted more easily to Eastern European workers. Belgium had announced last February (cf. our dispatch n° 06230) that it wanted to maintain restrictions concerning access to its labour market for another two years, in order to strengthen the instruments for controlling illegally employed labour. (Ref. 06401)
This draft decree “which establishes the procedure relating to the request for employment authorisations and work permits included in the lists of job vacancies which are difficult to fill” includes the lists of trades affected by recruitment difficulties which were drawn up on a regional basis, jointly with the social partners. If the closed labour market remains the norm in relation to workers from Central and Eastern Europe, as from 1st June 2006, a more flexible procedure will be set up for
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