Wary of Roma, Europe cold-shoulders its new eastern workmates

BERLIN/BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Mitko keeps a tidy squat, a tartan blanket on the bed and his clothes stowed away. Lit by candles, heated by a gas canister and padlocked when he is out, it is the 39-year-old Roma's haven inside an old graffiti-covered ice factory in Berlin.

For many European Union politicians, Mitko and his neighbours in the squalid Eisfabrik are a warning of what will happen next year when Romania and Bulgaria get full access to the job market - and welfare systems - of Europe.