Spanish farmers long for Romanian workers

The Spanish farmers fear they won’t have enough workers from Romania to pick their crops this season. They blame Bucharest authorities that may hamper Romanian workers.

According to a cover story published by the electronic version of daily „El Pais”, only 3,200 workers, out of the 10,000 demanded by the Spanish, would get to work in Huelva, in the south-West side of Spain.

The Farmers’ association in Huelva opened negotiations with Bulgaria and Morrocco, to fill in for the missing Romanians. Poland and Senegal are the secondary options.

According to El Pais, Spanish authorities there is a connection between the labor market restrictions after Romania’s accession to the EU and the increasing lack of interest of Romanians in working abroad.

„Romania starts to access European funds and is no longer interested in exporting workers”, a govenmental official comments on the subject.