Introduction
One of the founding concepts of the European Union is freedom of movement, which entitles residents of member nations to travel freely within their borders and receive equal treatment with other citizens. Citizens of the EU have the legal right to relocate to and live in any EU member state where they can even access the welfare system of the country; though each country has its own conditions (European). The freedom of movement law was created with the aim of providing a dynamic workforce for the EU states following the formation of the European Economic Community. However, individual member states can depart from the law requiring them to allow free movements of the people through regulation such as increasing the requirements for one to access benefits or extend their stay in the country.
Advantages of Freedom of Movement
The freedom of movement is intended for unemployed people who can seek work in other countries within the region. This was also intended to benefit the business people looking to expand their businesses in the region (European). For those who are unemployed, once they secure employment in the host country they gain equal rights as the citizens in that country some of them being: welfare, healthcare, and education. After one has secured employment one can move their family to the host country where they would be eligible to access similar rights.
The right to move freely in the EU has also been extended to individuals in other categories such as people who are not intending to seek employment or engage in economic activities. Although they are given access these individuals do not qualify for the same benefits as the citizens of the host country due to minimal economic contribution. The law allows a citizen of the EU to stay in a member country for a period not exceeding three months with those that want to extend their stay being required to prove that they have the sufficient funds to finance their stay (Walters, William, & Galina 109). They are also required to have a complete health insurance coverage. Students from member states are also granted the right to stay as long as their studies take but they must also provide proof that they can support themselves financially during that period.
Owing to the hardship that job seekers in a foreign country may have, the EU agreed on letting job-seekers from member states to access the host state`s out-of-work benefit just like the citizens of the host country. Therefore, the rules that are applied to citizens in the host country apply to the job-seekers who in order to access the benefit, must fulfill the predetermined conditions. The requirements to acquire these benefits depend on the rules of the individual country. Some nations like France impose a mandatory waiting period while others like Belgium require one to have been previously employed.
The freedom of movement law was instituted to promote an open society with the ultimate goal being to attain peace in the region as well as promoting their shared values such as democracy and the rule of law (European). This may have been due to the fact that the member countries may have realized they are interdependent and therefore, need to cooperate with each other to accomplish a greater good collectively.
The freedom to move freely within the EU was meant to encourage cooperation and tolerance within the member states. This was meant to be achieved through constant interaction among citizens of various countries which would bring about understanding amongst the citizens. Formation of the EU was also geared towards achieving cooperation between the European governments in areas such as defense and economic development (European).
Disadvantages of Freedom of Movement
However, owing to the different standards of living between the individual member states some like Britain has seen an influx of immigrants from less developed countries like Poland due to their attractive benefits (Shimmel 760). This is what motivated four member states in 2013 to call for changes in the law of free movement. These countries were asking for the EU to make it hard for immigrants from member states to access benefits in the host nation. These individuals were referred to as "benefit tourists" by the United Kingdom home secretary Theresa May, who explained that such individuals had no intention of contributing to the economy in any way and should, therefore, not be allowed access any benefits (Open Society).
This "benefit tourism" therefore, overburdens the more developed states in the union like the UK which owing to their development have progressive policies that citizens from poorer countries in the region take advantage of (Open Society). As a result, the host countries benefit programs use a lot of money on the immigrants who do not contribute anything to the economy of the host country hence more of a liability than an asset (Walters, William, & Galina, 114).
"Benefit tourism" also results in negative feelings amongst the host nation`s citizens who view the immigrants as opportunists and reaffirms any prejudice they may already have for citizens of a particular nation. Therefore, the clause that allows EU citizens to access benefits and they are not contributing to the economy of the host nation is a major hindrance to effective regional integration (Walters, William, & Galina, 126). The nations were suggesting that the law requiring host nations to provide benefits for EU citizens who do not have any economic contribution be scrapped to promote economic growth resulting from migration within the region.
Restricting Free Movement
Even though the EU law on freedom of movement cannot be depended upon to prevent any abuse from taking place, the members are entitled to revoke the rights of any individual found abusing the right. Any EU member state has the ability to revoke any rights that an EU citizen may have under the freedom of movement law (Open Society). This should be done after it has been established the individual is abusing the right such as having marriages of convenience and other types of fraudulent acts that take advantage of the law of freedom of movement. However, to prevent member states from abusing this allowance the EU requires them to ensure that any measures taken are proportionate and have procedural safeguards such access to judicial redress (European).
Regulations on Restricting Free Movement
The allowance by the EU was in response to possible fraudulent activities that could result from unrestricted movement across the region`s countries key among them being marriages of convenience. Each country is allowed to adopt its own measures of dealing with cases of fraud after conclusive evidence shows that the individual in question is indeed a fraud, this usually requires a lengthy investigation and other legal procedures.
The lengthy and expensive procedures in most cases result in the individuals suspected of using the free movement law to commit fraud being acquitted. Therefore, most nations find the regulations governing the deportation of fraudsters time consuming and very expensive. As a result, many national governments do not actively search for frauds as they should be owing to the prohibitive costs and procedures to be followed for them to be successful.
The law on the revocation of the rights of an EU citizen in a member state is very restrictive since it calls for a lot of resources to be used in a single case; this reduces the individual state`s ability to protect themselves from people with dishonest intentions. The regulations leave the member states` borders open to intrusion by individuals who harm their economies who exploit the loopholes created by the law to their advantage (Walters, William, & Galina, 119). That is the main reason in the then prime minister of the UK David Cameron wrote to the head of the European Council Donald Tusk requesting that the council allow the member states to allow rewriting of the freedom of movement law (Walters, William, & Galina 125). The main reason cited by Cameron was the rise in "sham marriages" that were being used by EU residents from other member states to obtain permanent residence in the UK (Open Society).
Disadvantages of Departing from the EU Treaties
The member countries can choose to depart from their commitments in the free movement across their borders, however, restricting movement of EU citizens may result in numerous negative effects on regional integration. Restricting free movement in the region would lead to an increase in the unemployment rate across Europe (Open Society). It is estimated that free movement led to a six percent decrease in the unemployment rate in Europe which was brought about by free movement. The presence of a mobile labor force in the region enabled the unemployed workers in the EU to fill positions in other member states when the positions are not available in their own countries.
The free movement resulted in a drop in the unemployment rate because people had a wide variety of locations within which to look for work. This led to a situation whereby, national borders ceased to exist and EU citizens could travel and take up jobs in regions where their skills were in demand (Ugur 967). The overall effect was a reduction in the unemployment rate since individuals were not confined geographically and could, therefore, move to regions in which their skills were in demand. Restricting freedom of movement would erode these gains resulting in an increase in the unemployment rate since people will only be able to fill positions that are within their country`s borders.
Despite more developed countries like the UK and France complaining that immigration was affecting their economies, the European Commission estimated that free movement led to an increase in their Gross Domestic Product by approximately one percent (Open Society). This increase is said to have occurred during the period between 2004 and 2009 and occurred mainly in the older members of the EU which are the most developed (Open Society). The free movement also contributed to a faster economic recovery in the more developed nations owing to the mobility of labor and also capital which is essential to the rebuilding of an economy.
Therefore, if some member states choose to restrict freedom of movement this would result in their economies taking longer to recover in case of a crisis due to the immobility of the necessary labor and capital needed. Restriction of movement may also result in the decline in the economic power and the influence of the region as a whole. It would diminish the power of the region in its quest to promote the institution of open societies in countries in the other continents such as Africa (Ugur 976).
A decline in the influence and power of the region will also negatively affect the economic growth of the region since the individual countries may be unable to negotiate favorable trade deals. This may be due to the decline in bargaining power that came with negotiating as a region. European countries have more leverage when negotiating within the union than individually which is especially important when negotiating with other similarly developed countries and regions such as the Americas and Asia.
Those against freedom of movement often cite that its disadvantageous to the citizens of the host country since foreigners bring increased competition in the job market with these complains originating from the more developed nations (Shimmel 760). However, this is not entirely true because it has been observed that the citizens of new members of the EU such as Poland go for jobs that require low skilled labor such as construction and agriculture.
These sectors usually have a shortage of labor since not many citizens in highly developed countries are keen on doing menial jobs. The real competition is, therefore, amongst the lower skilled workers from the new members of the EU since they seek to fill similar positions (Open Society). Therefore, restricting free movement may result in some sectors such as agriculture and construction experiencing a shortage of casual laborers leading to a decline in those sectors and the overall economy (Ugur 987).
Restricting freedom of movement is also disadvantageous to the citizens of older and more developed members of the EU since it has been proven that their citizens have also migrated as much as those from the new member states. Research has indicated that of the top five countries with citizens working abroad, three are older members of the EU namely: Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The three members each contribute 1.7 million, 1.5 million, and 1.4 million citizens respectively (Open Society). This proves that citizens from older member countries would also be affected by any restrictions to the freedom of movement which can, in turn, affect their respective economies negatively since other member states would retaliate by also restricting movement.
Remedies for Excessive Migration in the EU
According to the current rules, if a member state expresses concern over a consistent influx of immigration for a long period of time they cannot institute a total ban on the free movement of EU citizens across its borders since they would be in violation of the EU treaties. However, that does not mean absolute freedom of movement within the EU. The only movement that an individual government cannot stop is one that falls within the conditions agreed upon in the treaty, therefore, no country can impose a blanket ban on movement of EU citizens (Open Society). Instituting a blanket ban would be contravening the laws that instituted free movement amongst the member states.
Apart from ensuring that their borders are always open to compliant citizens, member countries are also required to ensure that once in their countries the EU citizens should be accorded the same level of treatment as the host country`s citizens. Equal treatment should be extended to any EU citizen in a member state in terms of the salary, working conditions, and access to employment opportunities. Any country that denies any the above conditions to EU citizens is in violation of the treaty that the member nations agreed upon (European).
Only in special situations can these benefits be put on hold for a period of time one such case is when the European Council found credence in the concerns of the UK that had been expressed by the then prime minister David Cameron (Open Society). However, it should be noted that the council only revoked the in-work benefits of non-citizens to discourage further migration while the borders were to remain open. This indicates the importance that the European Council attaches to ensuring that the borders of member countries are open.
Conclusion
Freedom of movement is one of the primary values guiding the formation of the European Union. The main of instituting this law was to enhance regional integration between the member states which would result in collective economic development and stability of the member states due to the cooperation that the movement would bring. In the EU, member states view each other not as competitors but as allies in their quest to achieve success for their respective nations. By restricting movement, a nation stands to lose more than it gains since it may have to opt out of the union since as per the EU treaties no single nation has the power to do so. Due to the key role that freedom of movement plays in uniting the region no member can curb immigration by EU citizens into their country and still remain in the union.
Works Cited
Books
Shimmel, Natalie. "Welcome to Europe, but please stay out: Freedom of movement and the May 2004 expansion of the European Union." Berkeley J. Int'l L. 24 (2006): Pp 760.
Ugur, Mehmet. "Freedom of Movement vs. Exclusion: A Reinterpretation of theInsider'-Outsider'Divide in the European Union." International Migration Review (1995): Pp 964-999.
Walters, William, and Galina Cornelisse. The deportation regime: Sovereignty, space, and the freedom of movement. Duke University Press, 2010. Pp 101-223.
Websites
European Commission. "Free Movement - EU nationals." News RSS, Retrieved from, ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=457.
Open Society. "Why Do Some EU Governments Want to Restrict This Freedom?" Open Society Foundations, Retrieved from, www.opensocietyfoundations.org/explainers/what-eu-freedom-movement.
