France is fully opening its labor market to the countries which joined the EU in 2004 on Tuesday. This market may be open to Bulgaria and Romania sooner than the December 30, 2012 deadline, Brice Hortefeux, the Minister of Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Co-Development, said on Monday.

He met with European journalists accredited to Brussels and invited to Paris in connection with the French EU Presidency, which starts on July 1, BTA informs.

At present, 152 jobs in France are open to Bulgarians and Romanians. France was to liberalize its labor market for the ten EU countries in 2009, but a different decision was made. The same may be done about Bulgarian and Romanian job seekers, Hortefeux said.

In the coming days, France will submit to the EU Council of Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs a draft immigration pact. The proposal may be made by France, Germany and Spain, Hortefeux also said.

The pact is designed to organize legal job-related immigration in the EU, to strengthen the fight against illegal immigration and against crime rings which bring immigrants to the EU, and to devise a common policy to asylum seekers.

Hortefeux hopes the immigration pact will receive official approval from the EU Council by October.