Brexit and the Safeguarding of EU Free Movement and Citizenship

This Paper illustrates how citizen groups safeguard free movement and European Union (EU) citizenship - that is to work, study and live in an EU member state other than the country of origin – in the context of Brexit negotiations. More specifically, the paper probes the extent to which one specific citizen group, New Europeans, can safeguard free movement and EU citizenship against what is set to be turbulent Brexit negotiations. The paper builds on original, semi-structured interview evidence with native UK citizens and EU residents who work as activists for New Europeans and their partner citizen groups; non-participant observation from meetings and public workshops run by New Europeans; and discourse analysis of publications by New Europeans. It is anticipated that by seeking to safeguard free movement and EU citizenship, New Europeans and their members realize is the type of ‘active’ EU citizenship the Commission has, time again, called for. Yet, the context in which such ‘active’ EU citizenship is (finally) being realized is far from ideal – and arguably represents the first exemplar of EU disintegration. It thus puts into question the very ideals set out by the Commission as well as the actually role citizen groups and, by the same token, public interests groups can have in realizing these ideals. These questions then have important consequences for the Commission’s approach to free movement, EU citizenship and citizen/ public interests groups beyond Brexit and, by extension, for an EU political union that may not be “on the horizon”.