Core changes to European citizenship? The transformation of European citizenship from the guestworkers era to post-enlargement and post-crisis

Barbulescu, Roxana

Abstract:

European immigration has always had a strong European component as Europeans have moved to neighbouring countries to battle wars, study, work or start a family. However, the legal infrastructure that made possible their migration has changed remarkably over time. If in the postwar period, Southern Europeans were recruited as guestworkers via bilateral agreements established between states, the creation of freedom of movement allowed people to migrate freely, on their own choice. The consolidation and extension of EU citizenship continued as the European has grown “ever closer” gradually including not only workers and their families but also students, retirees, job seekers and every European citizen with sufficient financial resources to support her/himself. In recent years, this incremental growth and consolidation of freedom of movement has been stopped. In the context of the economic crisis and enlargement fatigue, for the first time freedom of movement is being challenged simultaneously by several member states who ask for a contraction of these rights.The UK has recently changed the rule of access to social protection and a number of countries have intensified the number of deportations of EU citizens. In recent documents, the European Commission has changed part of its vocabulary on freedom of movement and moved the emphasis from removing obstacles to freedom of movement to consolidating the safeguards that member states have to prevent and respond to abuses related with it. This paper examines the evolution of European citizenship and discusses its consequences in relation with the process of European integration.

Área(s) temática(s):

• 2. Gobierno, Instituciones y Comportamiento Políticos

Año:

2014

Tipo de publicación:

Paper/Extenso Congresos GIGAPP

Número:

832

Serie:

V Congreso Internacional en Gobierno, Administración y Políticas Públicas

Dirección:

Sede INAP. Madrid, España

Organización:

GIGAPP- IUIOG

Mes:

29-Sept 01-Oct. 2014