Bulgaria will impose labour restrictions on nationals from Moldova, Ukraine and Macedonia, private national broadcaster bTV quoted Labour and Social Policy Ministry officials on March 28 2009.

The restrictions are designed to protect Bulgaria's labour market from foreign workers, Deputy Minister Dimitrar Dimitrov said.

There had been plans to extend co-operation between Bulgaria and the three countries in the labour sphere but this will not now happen, he said.

For now, the expected mass return of Bulgarians working abroad had not occurred, he said, although reports in Bulgarian media from the past three months said that many Bulgarian based in Spain were returning.

"It all depends on what these people expect to get when they come back to Bulgaria and what work they are ready to do," Dimitrov said.

"Within a couple of months the farming season starts and it will be a question of what returning workers are willing to do in Bulgaria".

Dimitrov said that, despite the lay-offs on account of the crisis, many positions remained unfilled because people lacked appropriate qualifications.

Bulgarians are also subject to labour restrictions. Out of 25 EU member states, 11 still have restrictions in place for Bulgarians and Romanians.

Ireland was the most recent country to extend restrictions on Bulgarians and Romanians - until 2011. Germany, Austria and the UK have also confirmed that restrictions for Bulgarians and Romanians will remain.

Bulgarians, Hungary and Portugal opened their labour markets to nationals of the two Balkan countries on January 8 2009.

Just before New Year's Eve, Greece and Spain did the same. Denmark, which currently imposes some restrictions, has also announced that it will stop applying restrictions for Bulgarian and Romanian workers from May 1 2009, when it will also end all restrictions for workers from the eight EU member states that joined in 2004.