Romanians will need work permits and contracts in order to work in Spain, the government in Madrid has announced.

The move, which will come into force in the coming days, is supposed to curb the flow of workers from the eastern European country to ease pressure on Spain’s job market. The Spanish government decided to restrict the access of Romanian nationals because of the country’s high unemployment rate (20%).

The government said the restrictions would not apply to Romanians already working in Spain, but it remains unclear what will happen if and when their contracts end. Under the new restrictions, Romanians will need a work permit and a work contract before they can enter Spain.

A European Commission spokeswoman confirmed that the Commission had received a letter from Spain explaining its decision. She said the Commission would analyse whether the move was in line with EU rules on free movement.

Special safeguard clause

Under a special safeguard clause attached to the accession treaties of Romania and Bulgaria, member states can temporarily suspend the free movement of nationals from the two countries up to 2014. The clause can only be activated under “urgent and exceptional” cases, said the Commission spokesperson.

“The government has to prove and demonstrate that there is a risk of major impact, [such as] distortion of the labour market,” the spokesperson said.

This is the first time a member state has requested to reverse a earlier decision to lift temporary restrictions on the free movement of persons from new member states.

When Romania joined the EU in 2007, Spain introduced a two-year restriction on the movement of workers from the country. It lifted those restrictions in 2009.

Spain argues that since then it has seen a large increase in the number of Romanian workers entering the country to work in its construction sector, which has been brought to near-collapse because of the economic crisis.

Ten member states, including Germany, France, Italy and the UK, continue to have restrictions in place on workers from Romania and Bulgaria.