More than 100,000 Romanian immigrants registered to work in the UK last year

The number of Romanians who registered to work in Britain in 2014, after work restrictions were lifted more than trebled to over 150,000 people, according to figures released this week.

I had previously seen a lot of reports that far fewer Romanians emigrated to the UK in 2014 than feared by the British tabloid newspapers. Months ago, the Guardian reported that the number of Romanians and Bulgarians in the UK rose from 205,000 in September 2013 to 252,000 in September 2014, an increase of 47,000, which was much the same as the rise of 45,000 in the corresponding period in 2012-13. In other words, nothing to see, move along. UKIP was accused of scaremongering but it seems UKIP, who had no means of knowing what the figures would be, were perfectly realistic. Although people accused the Daily Mail of misleading its readers, it was Guardian readers who may have been misled.

Many Romanians are offended that some people in England would like to limit Romanian immigration, which puzzles me, as Romanians and other East Europeans have a strong sense of national identity themselves. I have heard very many Romanians complain about the number of immigrants in the UK and that they think London too cosmopolitan. I have also heard Romanians complain about the behaviour of Romanian gypsies in England and say it's unfair that the English confuse gypsies with Romanians, just because the gypsies happen to be Romanian citizens. (For Romanians ethnicity counts much more than citizenship). 

But attempts to restrict Romanian immigrants hurt Romanian pride and feeds into their painful national inferiority complex.

Incidentally, I know a Romanian woman acquaintance who moved to London about five years ago and who chatting on email told me 

“I saw Romanian gypsies being disgusting around London and felt ill- like puking. So dirty and uncivilized! Defecating near Marble Arch! I felt pure disgust! I am not religious but I pray God that Britain does not open the gates to them.”

I don't share her attitude towards poor Romanian working class immigrants - she also complained about "sluttish Romanian waitresses" - but I find it odd that Romanians, who mostly hate gypsies, now complain about discrimination. I suppose it's the intellectual fashion.

Personally, for years, I always thought the only thing I didn't like about Romania was the fact that it wasn't the Hermit Kingdom it had been under Communism and there were such large numbers of people, like me, from Western Europe here, though most of us do good.

Most Romanian immigrants in England also do a lot of good, in my opinion, in England, although a small minority of Romanian citizens are responsible for worryingly high crime figures, to which Rod Liddle has drawn attention. But though Romanians are, mostly, very good immigrants, when governments decide immigration policy what is important, or should be, are numbers and national identity. 

Of course, in this case, governments do not decide and the EU does instead. And, thanks to the EU, Romanians' right to work in the UK is very secure.

Meanwhile, Romania is dying. Her birth rate is too low to maintain the population, the abortion rate is very high, though much lower than it was, millions have left and millions more want to. Romania will shortly have to consider whether to import immigrants in large numbers and if so from where to take them.