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The Swedish labour market and the
enlargement of the European Union The European Union is a political and economical union with fifteen member states in Europe. Sweden has been a member of the union since 1995. The work of the union is at the moment dominated by two main issues. The first one is to create a monetary union, the second is to prepare for an enlargement of the union. Many of the former communist states in Eastern Europe have applied for membership to the union. What will be the consequences of an enlargement of the European Union? Will an enlargement affect the Swedish labour market? If yes, in what way? To find these answers the Swedish government appointed a committee to analyse the effects on an enlargement. The objective was to analyse "the basic regulations concerning the free movements of labour, gender equality and social security". The report is one part of seven that form the analytic basis on how Sweden might be affected by the enlargement. The enlargement of the Union differs from the previous ones. The economic, political, social and institutional conditions in the candidate countries are notably different from the conditions within the union. Secondly, the cooperation between the union has changed during the process of integration The report claims that there is a great potential of immigration to Sweden, however, the actual immigration may not be considerably high. The report stresses that there might be a possibility of immigration of the labour force that might negatively affect the income for weak Swedish groups. The scale of effects on the income is related to the national regulations. The importance of clear rules on unemployment insurance and social assistance for both immigrants and Swedish groups, is underlined. The report recommends to start improving the conditions in the candidate countries according to their needs. The suggestion is to find forms for "actively supporting the development of a social infrastructure in the candidates countries including gender equality, social security and work safety and health". The Swedish government should strongly consider the possibility to, during the transitional period, set up a temporary body for support to the candidate countries and "contribute to the transparency of the enlargement process." Finally, the investigating committee states that the EU should consider the need of transnational rules for the free movement of the labour force. The rules have been applied earlier in connection with other enlargements. Enforcement of such rules could spare both the Swedish labour market and potiential immigrants many problems.
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