Brno - Efforts by German authorities to make it harder for people from new EU member states to find work in the country have suffered a serious blow.
The state was forced to compromise on the account of a Czech woman who, after working for a year abroad, asked for a work permit without time restirictions, to continue her employement in Germany.
German officials refused to acquiesce at first, and offered the woman only a limited work permit for another year, which would mean more insecurity for her.
The dispute was submitted for consideration to Solvit, an online network that solves problems linked with the misapplication of Internal Market law by public authorities in the EU, without the involvment of the courts..
The Slovit centres ruled that Czech citizens working in Germany for one consecutive year have the right to be granted work permits without time restrictions.
Germany and Austria
"The right to an unlimited work permit is guaranteed not only by the Admission treaty between the Czech Republic and Germany, but also by Germany's own legal enactment," explained Solvit officials on their web pages.
Germany was thus forced to provide the woman with the unrestricted work permit.
Germany and Austria have put up possibly the fiercest fight against the influx of people from the new EU countries to their labor markets.
High unemployment
German Chancellor Angela Merkel informed Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily that the labor market is not going to open next year as was originally planned.
Allegedly, Merkel cannot imagine Germany opening its labor market for new EU state nationals before 2011. The reason is high unemployment rates in the country.
There are many complaints filed against authorities' actions in Germany and Austria. Czech citizens are often succeful in getting what they want in these cases.
Taxi driver
For example, a Czech taxi driver got his due after submitting a complaint of discriminatory practices against the Austrian chamber of commerce that refused to provide him with a taxi-driver's permit.
The chamber was not willing to recognize his Czech driver's license and didn't allow the driver to pass the necessary examination.
Eventually, the chamber was forced to grant him the permit.
