East-West Conflicts: Free Movement of Persons in an Enlarged EU
Prof. Claire KILPATRICK
Thursday, 15.00–17.00, Sala Triaria
Administrative Assistant: Eleonora Masella
January – March 2012
6 credits
Seminar 1: Why does the EU allow Free Movement of Persons?
This seminar explores two issues. First it looks at how unusual the EU is, compared with other free trade regimes such as NAFTA or GATS, in protecting so fully free movement of persons. We consider why other trade regimes allow so little free movement of people and why the EU has taken a different path. In this regard it is particularly important to explore the decision to include free movement of workers in the Treaty of Rome. Second, we trace and evaluate the unusual activeness of both the legislature and judiciary in extending and deepening free movement of persons’ protection throughout the EU’s history.
Seminar 2: Enlargement and the Free Movement of Workers
This seminar considers what we can learn about the ‘core freedoms’ and EU citizenship by looking at enlargements, past and future. It looks at population, wages figures, as well as post-enlargement migration flows, to understand why eastern enlargement is controversial and different. It examines the transitional restrictions placed on free movement of workers in the context of Eastern Enlargement. To explore the value of EU free movement guarantees, we look at the current position of Turkish migrants under Turkey’s agreement with the EU and what role issues about free movement of persons play in the prospect of enlargement to Turkey.
Seminar 3: Enlargement and free movement of services and establishment
Most of the focus on transitional restrictions in the context of eastern enlargement has been on free movement of workers. Yet additional restrictions were placed on other movers, such as posted workers, by certain Member States (Austria, Germany). This seminar explores these restrictions, which have recently produced some interesting case-law. It considers how, taken as a whole, the restrictions operated often not to stop but merely to alter migration flows from the East to the West.
Seminar 4: Mind the Gap! Between legal guarantees and migrant reality
EU law extensively protects EU economic migrants, people as well as businesses. This seminar looks at the gap between these extensive legal guarantees and the real-life experience of economic migrants after Eastern enlargements. It asks participants to consider how the governance arrangements for EU economic migration could be changed to make this gap smaller.
Seminar 5: The Court of Justice, enlargement and the free movement of persons: horizontality and the fundamental rights-fundamental freedoms interface
Post-enlargement, the Court of Justice has delivered a series of highly controversial decisions on the free movement of persons (Viking, Laval etc). This seminar and the one to follow explore some of the central issues arising in that case-law, placing them in the new eastern enlargement context. This week we explore when the personal freedoms (should) apply horizontally and how (should) the personal freedoms interact with fundamental rights.
Seminar 6: Freedom to provide services: post-enlargement conflicts
Post-enlargement conflicts on freedom to provide services are explored by examining the key labour-related issues of posting of workers and its interaction with public procurement. The reading uses these conflicts to examine the relationship between the EU legislature, the Treaty freedoms and the Court of Justice in developing the free movement of persons.
Seminar 7: Free Movement of Persons as a Danger
This seminar and the following one look at two sharply contrasting ways of evaluating the free movement of persons post-enlargement and in light of Laval/Viking. In the first, which is the overwhelmingly dominant critique in the legal literature, the new settlement is a danger for labour, with a neo-liberal and anti-democratic Court of Justice unleashing regulatory competition and social dumping in the EU.
Seminar 8: Free Movement of Persons as Emancipation
This week presents a contrasting perspective on the new settlement concerning enlargement and the FMOP. It disputes the regulatory competition analysis and, drawing on trade and development literature, presents a more positive evaluation of new EU migration of people and of businesses.
Seminar 9: Citizenship and immigration discourses: their relationship with free movement of persons in the EU
This seminar examines the dominant focus of EU citizenship and immigration discourses. It argues that there is a risk of limiting the former solely to analysis of the citizenship provisions introduced in the Maastricht Treaty and the latter solely to analysis of the position of Third Country Nationals. Placing the fundamental ‘market’ freedoms to work, provide services and establish within citizenship and immigration discourses can enrich the latter.
Seminar 10: Reflections by participants
There are no requirements for formal presentations by participants in the first nine seminars (though, of course, those taking the seminar should prepare and engage in discussions). In the last seminar, each participant will briefly (around 5 minutes) raise one or two issues which they found of particular interest in the previous seminars and explain why they merit further investigation.