Although freedom of movement for labor is one of the single market’s “four freedoms,” many EU countries are trying to protect their domestic labor markets by suspending this freedom for as long as possible. Germany, in particular, argues that the high unemployment resulting from reunification in 1990 requires it to close its labor market to the new member states to its east.
举个例子，我们可以研究一下欧盟委员会所谓的“服务指令”。尽管人员流动自由是统一市场“四大自由”之中的一个要素，但很多欧盟国家都力图保护自己的国内劳动力市场，尽可能拖延人员自由流动的最终实现。尤其是德国提出1990年重新统一所导致的高失业率要求它对东面的欧盟新成员封锁劳动力市场。