Can Polish Plumber be a Threat to the European Constitution?

On February 28, 2005, France was the first country to reject the constitutional treaty. It was a very difficult task for proponents to explain the complex 341 page document. As a result, voters were not familiar with the text and did not realize why it was essential for the further smooth development of the European Union.
On the other hand, opponents of the referendum put forward many arguments against the treaty. High unemployment and Turkey's possible future entry in the European Union seem to be the most popular among the numerous reasons that led French voters to say « no » in the referendum. Some politicians or parties believed that those issues were linked with the constitiutional treaty and other just seized the opportunity to express their discontent in other areas or just to make political gains.
As the public debate started on the topics that have little to do with the constitutional treaty, voters seemed not very concerned by the referendum itself. Undoubtedly, the problem of foreign labor, immigrants and job delocalization complicated the referendum campaign.
Many voters expressed fears that rich western countries would be overrun with immigrants from the new Member States. Accordingly, French opponents of the constitution went as far as to invent the idea of Polish plumber, as a symbol of foreign cheap labour, infiltrating into West Europe in the future and stealing jobs. This imaginary plumber symbolized one of the greatest fears of the referendum campaign ahead of the vote on whether to accept the EU constitution. This article investigates if the argument of Polish plumber was well grounded in reality, in other words, if Polish workers constitute a real threat to Western European labor markets.