The European Commission has taken both Portugal and Britain to court on grounds of not recognizing professional qualifications of both Romanians and Bulgarians automatically, an official press release informs.

The two countries join Austria, France, Cyprus, Belgium, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg and Spain in an exceptional situation which has never been met after the 2004 expansion wave.

The deadline imposed in this regard by the EC for the 2006/100/EC Directive was January 2007. In April, the Commission sued other eight European member states for the same reason. As long as the Directive is not implemented, Romanians and Bulgarians will not be able to get hired in those countries and the potential employers might be exempt from the opportunity to benefit of their experience.