(ANSA) - TRIESTE - Eight EU member countries - Italy, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Luxemburg and Spain - have opted to grant, starting today, all Croatian citizens the right to have full access to their domestic labour markets. Another five countries - Austria, Malta, the Netherlands, Slovenia and UK - have instead decided to maintain restrictions on Croatian workers for three more years. This news was released today by the EC. The other EU member countries had already opened the doors to Croatian workers starting July 2013. The EC's official website recalls that June 30 was the deadline of the first temporary phase established by Croatia's EU membership treaty. Within that deadline, EU member countries were expected to let the EC know what they had decided, whether or not to maintain these restrictions over the next three years. EU Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, Marianne Thyssen, underlined that the decision made today by eight EU member countries ''is a very positive step. Mobility may represent an opportunity both for workers and for the countries that welcome them'', she added.(ANSA).