From International Migration to Freedom of Movement and Back? Southern Europeans Moving North in the Era of Retrenchment of Freedom of Movement Rights

Abstract

First as migrant workers and later as European citizens with freedom of movement rights, Southern Europeans have established migratory routes to the more robust economies in Northern Europe. The Great Recession revives South-North mobility at a time when member states politically challenge and actively reduce freedom of movement rights. This chapter tracks down the evolution of freedom of movement into a regional mobility regime unique in the world and documents its retrenchment in the context of the crisis. The chapter argues that it is the mobility of Eastern European freemovers that triggered the restrictive wave, it has a more dramatic effect on Southern Europeans. This happens because the retrenchment comes at a time when they most use and most need these rights and because Southern Europeans have been socialised and experienced Europe as a continent of free mobility. Finally, the chapter posits that the loss of rights of rights and narrative change make freedom of movement increasingly similar with the regime for international migrants.