STA, March 21, 2018 – The government decided to extend by two years labour market restrictions for Croatian workers on Wednesday. Slovenia must notify the European Commission about the move by the end of June, which marks five years since Croatia's accession to the EU.
The objective is to limit the hiring of Croatian workers and their family members depending on the needs of the Slovenian labour market. This would ensure labour market stability for the next two years, the government said in a press release after its weekly session.
The Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities believes that abolishing the restrictions could have a significant negative effect, as Slovenia and Croatia are very similar in culture and language, and people have well developed informal and family networks spanning across the border.
The ministry noted that employers can however hire Croatian workers such as welders, lorry drivers, toolmakers and lathe operators, because there is shortage of these workers on the labour market.
Restrictions for Croatian workers were also extended by the Austrian government two weeks ago. Apart from Slovenia and Austria, restrictions have been in place in Malta, the Netherlands and the UK. The latter has announced that it would lift the ban on 1 July.
