‘Migrants’, ‘Mobile Citizens’ and the Borders of Exclusion in the European Union

Abstract

I argue that we need to connect debates about the ‘free movement’ of EU citizens with discussions about EU member states’ ‘immigration policies’ toward people from outside Europe. This is exactly the opposite approach to the one traditionally taken and advocated by the European Commission and many other European policy-makers who have insisted on a clear distinction between the ‘mobility’ of EU citizens on the one hand, and the ‘immigration’ of third-country nationals on the other. To develop my argument, I first outline some of the key differences between how ‘migrants’ and ‘mobile EU citizens’ are debated and regulated in the European Union. This is followed by a brief explanation of why I think the current distinctions may be considered problematic from both a moral and political perspective.