Gago, Angie

The ‘Migranticisation’ of EU Free Movement: Analysing the Policies to Control Intra-EU Migration in Germany and the UK
2023

Theoretically, this article proposes that concerns of ‘welfare migration’ have shaped the EU free movement regime as a system of differential rights. This system was institutionalised in Directive 2004/38 in the context of Eastern Enlargements, and it gives different residence and social rights to EU citizens depending on their socioeconomic status. Whereas workers have unquestioned residence rights and can have access to various contributory and non-contributory social benefits, economically inactive citizens are excluded from welfare benefits and must prove they have sufficient resources to obtain the right to reside.

The article further suggests that these provisions sought to provide member states with tools to control ‘unwanted’ migration, which in this article refers to the ‘poor’. Directive 2004/38 enables member states to use two policies to control intra-EU migration: welfare exclusion and the control of residence rights. Empirically, the article investigates the implementation of these two policies in Germany and the UK. It finds that the implementation of these policies has led to a ‘migranticisation’ of the EU free movement regime. Whereas workers are seen as free movers, economically inactive citizens are seen as migrants that need to prove their right to reside. However, the article also finds fundamental differences between the cases. The UK’s long tradition of Euroscepticism led to Brexit and to the de facto transformation of all EU citizens into migrants. In contrast, countries with a strong European identity and robust social values entrenched in national law, such as Germany, are less likely to experience a radical turn to the ‘migranticisation’ of EU free movement.