New figures suggest migration from ex-communist EU states to Ireland and the UK is not slowing down yet, while Romanians and Bulgarians are beginning to test their new EU travel freedoms.
Ninety thousand Poles alone registered to work in Ireland in 2006 compared to 65,000 in 2005 according to the Irish national insurance office, with over 250,000 new workers settling on the island since 2004.
Net migration to the UK hit 400,000 in 2005 - almost double the level in 2004 and 215,...
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Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.