Immigration to Sweden from the New EU Member States

Abstract:

All remaining restrictions to the free movement of Bulgarian and Romanian citizens will have to be removed before the end of 2013. In a number of EU member states this has renewed fears of “benefit tourism”.

In this report, the authors examine the experiences in Sweden, where it was decided that no transitional provisions would be introduced in connection with the enlargements of the EU in 2004 and 2007. By studying detailed data, they are able to conclude that while the enlargements did lead to an increase in labour immigration from the Central and Eastern European (CEE) member states, the increase was relatively limited in scope. Moreover, they find no evidence that immigration from the CEE member states has put a disproportionate a strain on the Swedish social security system.