White EU Migrants and Anti-Discrimination Law in the UK: Bridging the Citizenship Gap with Critical Race Theory

While many scholars and commentators have widely praised “free” movement as a human right, and have portrayed Poland’s accession to the EU in 2004 as a “re-unification” of Europe, they have overlooked the impact that Poles’ background as racialized whites has on their experience of equality. The official EU narrative also frames the Enlargement as a “re-unification” of Europe - as part of the EU’s broader project of securing peace, improving prosperity, and respecting fundamental human rights. My research challenges this benign vision. During the enlargement process, EU bureaucrats and western politicians had approached and represented CEE states as irrational, and in need of civilising Westernisation in order to join the EU and thus be part of real “Europe”. Pre-04 (western) EU was used as a synecdoche to stand for all of “Europe.” Going as far back as the Enlightenment, Slavs have been ranked as less-white than Anglo-Saxons. Similarly, contemporary CEE migrants are undergoing a rarely-acknowledged racialization process in the West, while they are disadvantaged by Western-centric standards and narratives. For example, popular stereotypes of CEE migrants’ good work ethic and willingness to work under worse conditions than other workers has facilitated employers’ taking advantage of them. Dominant narratives of white privilege accruing to all Caucasians also disadvantage them: Westerners find it easier to overtly discriminate against racialized whites because there is lesser stigma associated with discriminating against whites than against non-whites; and their whiteness makes it more difficult - for them, and for others - to conceptualize acts against them as racism. Furthermore, the legislative history and subsequent interpretations of the EU anti-discrimination law (Directive 2000/43) have excluded white ethnic minorities, framing discrimination within narratives of non-Europeanness and non-whiteness only. White ethnic minorities were excluded from the legislative history of both the EU and UK equality frameworks. Political, media, and public reactions during Directive 2000/43’s UK transposition reveal racism towards groups perceived as un-British, and the Equality Act has been applied to overlook othered whites, an effect amplified by the broader anti-immigrant socio-political context. Finally, the lived experience of law indicates a further disconnect from the EU rhetoric. Formulating discrimination claims under Equality Act is particularly challenging for white claimants, who also lack the conceptual framework to perceive their experiences as discriminatory. Ironically, free movement rights diminish incentives to assert equality rights by enabling circular migration. Furthermore, economic inequalities between member states, which shape Poles’ expectations, reduce their willingness to seek redress. Specifically, Poles’ experience in the UK is often marked by under-skilled employment; media, and political attacks; and acts of discrimination – all of which undermine equality of mobility and the meaning of EU citizenship. Drawing on critical race theorists’ concern with unequal access to hegemonic power structures, I also emphasize the importance of migration background and intra-racial differences to the experience of equality and mobility. Finally, I indicate how Poles’ mobility to the UK has the potential to expand equality and citizenship discourse.