Intra-EU Mobility and Welfare: A Southern European Perspective

Recent centrifugal trends in the European Union have raised a wide debate on European citizenship as a source of equal access to welfare. Such a debate has mainly addressed young Southern (and Eastern European) workers, who have already experienced social rights retrenchments in some EU countries. But can be said about Northern European retirees in Southern Europe? Despite its small-size, international retirement migration is an increasing form of mobility in Europe. On the one hand, freedom of movement of elderly people is one possible strategy to increase well-being or to react to welfare cuts and decreasing pension benefits in the countries of origin. On the other, Southern European governments have recently designed measures aimed at attracting Northern European retirees. This applies for instance to luxury senior houses in Italy or tax exemptions for non-residents in Portugal. Clearly, international retirement migration is increasingly seen as an economic asset while the presence of international retirees has already promoted the emergence of new welfare structures. Against this backdrop, the objective of this paper is to reverse the traditional North-South perspective on intra-EU mobility in Europe by exploring welfare policies and regulations addressing international retirees in Italy and Spain. Its final goal is to assess whether they have the potential to produce further divides within Europe or whether they can rather contribute to welfare transformation and turn international retirees into an asset for receiving countries.