Cyprus joined the EU in May 2004. Originally it was hoped that the Cyprus problem (the division of Cyprus after the Turkish invasion in 1974) would be resolved before Cyprus became part of the EU, but, despite the efforts of the UN, that did not happen. Turkey has now proposed an Action Plan to solve this problem and integrate the northern part of Cyprus into the EU. There are some useful links on Euractiv.
Free movement of workers is one of the fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the EC Treaty, but, as Ambassador Bruton pointed out today, this freedom is not yet generally extended to workers from the Member States which joined the EU in 2004. EurActiv has collected some information resources on this issue, noting that there is a lack of transparency and clarity about what the EU and national rules are in this area.
The Ambassador referred to the “Polish plumber” the French were supposedly afraid of in context of the Constitutional referendum. Here is how (apparently as a joke) Poland tried to reassure the French about their plumbers (via Mahalanobis):
The director of the Polish tourist board who was responsible for this poster was subsequently fired.
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