The German Ministers' Council adopted, as foreseen, a series of restrictions against Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants, imposing labor-related restrictions until 2009, AFP informs, quoting the German Labor Minister.

The decision taken on Wednesday would make Romania and Bulgaria go through the same steps as the eight states that joined the European Union in 2004.

Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary have restrictions imposed until the end of 2008.

"Germany has made a great progress on the labor market this year, but cutting down unemployment is still a major target for our Government, therefore the access of Romanian and Bulgarian workers must be controlled", the German Labor Minister said.