Rising living standard to keep Romanians at home-Prodi

BUCHAREST, Jan 17 (Reuters) Romanians will be increasingly likely to stay at home instead of seeking jobs abroad in coming years, as their living standards rise after European Union entry, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said.

Worries about Romanians flooding western labour markets after the Black Sea state joined the EU at the start of this year have prompted tough restrictions on their access to jobs abroad.

Many have already left Romania since the fall of communism 17 years ago, fleeing poverty and low wages and heading mainly for Italy and Spain. Experts say as many as 700,000 Romanians now work in Italy, mostly illegally.

''It is obvious that when a country joins the Union, the migration process tends to decrease ... when one sees definite hope that a country's economy is improving,'' Prodi yesterday told a news conference during a visit to Bucharest.

''I have a firm conviction that Romania is at this stage, so obviously migration will decrease rather than increase.'' Prodi said migration could increase in the short term, as it did after the EU's first big eastward enlargement in 2004, when hundreds of thousands of workers moved west to seek better pay.

Romania is already struggling with workforce shortages in some sectors and some experts fear further migration of skilled workers could hurt the country's long-term development.

REUTERS BDP KP0841