Senator Crin Antonescu says he is sad to hear such rhetoric in UK, citing huge benefits Romanians make to the country

Senior Romanian politicians have voiced concerns to Nick Clegg over growing negative sentiment against their countrymen in the UK, ahead of the lifting of labour market restrictions in January.

Crin Antonescu, president of the Romanian senate, urged Clegg at a meeting on Thursday to challenge "unapologetic populists" on immigration and tackle discrimination against Romanians already living in Britain.

"The majority of the 100,000 Romanians living in the UK came here to work," said Antonescu. "Eighty-five per cent, the highest from any nationality, are in full-time employment. Most are under 35. Almost 40% have a university degree. There are over 4,000 doctors and nurses working in the NHS," said Antonescu.

"They are not criminals and scroungers caricatured by Mr Farage and his ilk. They pay their own way and contribute more than their fair share to the UK economy," said Antonescu, who is the ruling Social Liberal Union's candidate in next year's Romanian presidential elections.

He said in advance of his meeting that he recognised there had always been populist politicians happy to take advantage of people's fears for electoral gain, but he was saddened to find that this was still the case in the UK.

"In 2007 when Romania joined the EU we reluctantly agreed to postpone the application for the fourth fundamental freedom of the EU – the right to live, work and learn anywhere in the UK – until 2014," he wrote on politics.co.uk.

"We are therefore frustrated and offended that some now suggest that these restrictions should be maintained to stop an imaginary tsunami of uneducated, unwashed criminals from swamping civilisation."

He cited figures showing that 62% of Romanians in Britain have no dependents, 32% only have one child and only 300 claims for child benefit were made in 2012. Recent Metropolitan police statistics show a 50% fall in the arrests of Romanians in London from 3,400 in the first three months of 2012 compared with 1,700 in the first three months of this year.

Clegg is understood to have acknowledged the positive contribution to the economy made by the Romanian community legally in Britain. A Foreign Office-commissioned report published in April challenged claims by David Cameron and others that Britain faces a significant new wave of immigration when labour movement restrictions are lifted in January.

The study by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research said that the UK was unlikely to be the preferred destination for Bulgarians and Romanians. It added that those who do leave Romania were far more likely to go to Spain and Italy, where 1.7 million Romanians are already living and working, and this is unlikely to change despite the impact of the recession.

A spokesman for the deputy prime minister said that Clegg agreed with Antonescu's profile of the Romanian community in Britain but stressed that a robust approach would be taken to all those who came to the UK simply to rely on benefits, whatever their nationality.

Some backbench Conservative MPs have claimed that as many as 350,000 – 450,000 Romanians and Bulgarians are poised to move to Britain at the end of this year. Ukip's leader Nigel Farage has claimed the number is likely to be closer to 750,000.

A report published on Thursday said that immigration into the world's largest economies has a negligible effect on the public finances of host countries, with foreigners contributing as much in tax revenues as they receive in benefits.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said in its international migration outlook report for 2013 that Romania, which has only 0.3% of the global population, also exports a higher percentage of its populace than any other country. The largest exporters of migrants into the 33 OECD countries are India, China and Pakistan.

"Migration represents neither a significant gain nor drain for the public purse. Immigrants are pretty much like the rest of the population in this respect," said the OECD report.