A Union Without Borders? Conflictive Rationalities and Actors’ Strategies Between EU Mobility Dynamics and National Welfare States

Abstract

The nexus between EU mobility and welfare states is a cornerstone of EU citizenship. Without movement, there would be no need for supranational laws to regulate EU citizens’ welfare entitlements in the territory of another Member State. At the same time, cross-border welfare entitlements constitute a precondition for the exercise of freedom of movement for EU migrants. In the last decade, however, several Member States have voiced – and acted – to re-establish national boundaries of welfare in a Union without borders. A great deal has been written about the ‘restrictive turn’ taking place in supranational laws, the Court of Justice’ decisions, and Member States’ policies to limit mobile EU citizens’ cross-border welfare entitlements. What seems less clear to date is whether there is a shared policy logic behind it across Member States. What rationalities orient Member States’ policy strategies towards different forms of EU mobility in/outflows? Are they consistent across countries’ welfare regimes? Do they represent a response to mobility-induced challenges to the solidarity logic of the welfare state? Or do they constitute an instrument of mobility control? At the same time, how these policy strategies interplay with and shape mobile EU citizens’ mobility patterns? How do different EU citizens’ groups respond – and counter-react – to Member States’ strategies? This panel aims to contribute to the understanding of the welfare-EU mobility nexus from a comparative perspective. It particularly welcomes contributions that unveil (potentially conflictive) rationalities at the level of Member States’ welfare regimes and mobile EU citizens’ mobility strategies.

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