EU President warns UK over migration curbs

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker warned UK President David Cameron not to portray all Eastern Europeans as criminals as they are largely “earning their “wages”.

Cameron has recently taken a harder stance against immigration into the United Kingdom and has proposed that Europeans who work on a low pay in the UK should be denied tax benefits and access to social housing for four years. He plans to hold an in/out referendum if he gets re-elected next year.

Juncker said that the EU’s principle of free movement of labour means that no EU country can discriminate against citizens of other EU countries.

“It is the national legislatures who should fight against abuse and I am utterly against behaving as if all Poles, all Romanians, all Bulgarians in the European labour market are of a basic mentality that is criminal,” Juncker told Austrian TV. “These are people who are working and earning their wages. One should stop- especially Great Britain which always fought for the  enlargement of the European Union - discriminating against countries just because, in the current context, it goes down well when one beats up others. Self-flagellation is sometimes appropriate."

He also warned that the City of London would suffer were the UK to curb the free movement of labour.

“This fundamental right of free movement of workers cannot be questioned existentially because if you question the free movement of workers, Great Britain has to know that one day the free movement of capital will also have to be called into question,” Juncker said during a debate on Austrian TV. “Then it will be the end for London’s tax rulings, that will no longer be possible in London.