Eu Citizenship And Social Rights

In the 1990s, the Maastricht Treaty introduced the right to free movement for EU citizens. In practice, however, there are substantial barriers to making use of this right, particularly to integration and to accessing the social and welfare rights available. This is particularly true when it comes to accessing social rights, such as social assistance, housing benefit, study grants and health care. This book provides a detailed description and thorough analysis of these barriers, in both law and practice.

EU citizenship and Free Movement Rights examines how EU citizenship reconstructs in unexpected ways what citizenship as a status means and stands for in relation to family reunification, social rights, expulsion and discusses the effects of Brexit for EU citizens.

As the European Union faces the ongoing challenges of legitimacy, identity, and social cohesion, an understanding of the social purpose and direction of EU citizenship becomes increasingly vital. This book is the first of its kind to map the development of EU citizenship and its relation to various localities of EU governance. From a critical political economy perspective, the authors argue for an integrated analysis of EU citizenship, one that considers the interrelated processes of migration, economic transformation, and social change and the challenges they present.

This collection presents the main outcomes concerning social rights, active citizenship, and governance in the European Union, as presented at the final conference of the Civil Society and New Forms of Governance in Europe (CINEFOGO) Network of Excellence (Brussels, March 2009). The classic social debate about active citizen involvement in governance has re-emerged in the changing contexts of globalization and European integreation. Researchers have been involved in deepening the understanding of the role of civil society and new forms of governance in Europe and the making of European citizenship. They have been systematically studying political, legal, institutional, and economic conditions, as well as the different roles of various actors and institutions, the extent of their involvement in decision-making, and how their actions influence the changing human living conditions, including the actual accessibility of social rights for EU citizens. Different aspects of the structural changes to welfare states, and the extent and forms of citizens' participation in addressing public affairs, have been placed in the center of research attention. (Series: European Civil Society)

This open access book raises crucial questions about the citizenship of the European Union. Is it a new citizenship beyond the nation-state although it is derived from Member State nationality? Who should get it? What rights and duties does it entail? Should EU citizens living in other Member States be able to vote there in national elections? If there are tensions between free movement and social rights, which should take priority? And should the European Court of Justice determine what European citizenship is about or the legislative institutions of the EU or national parliaments? This book collects a wide range of answers to these questions from legal scholars, political scientists, and political practitioners. It is structured as a series of three conversations in which authors respond to each other. This exchange of arguments provides unique depth to the debate.

Since 2008, the European Union has been affected by one of the most severe crises in the history of Europe. This book builds on the work of Jürgen Habermas to answer the key question: is Europe strong enough to overcome the recent crisis? Arguing that recovery can only take place if the citizens of Europe regard themselves as members of a socially integrated European society, this volume sets out three conditions for successful European social integration: European citizens mutually respect each other as equals, accepting that all EU citizens should have equal economic, political and social rights. Those citizens objecting to the idea of European equality should not constitute a minority with potential for mobilisation that could impede the ongoing process of European social integration. Europeans act upon their equality beliefs in everyday practice – without differentiating between nationals and EU migrants. Based on a survey carried out in Germany, Spain, Poland and Turkey, the authors argue that the requirements for a socially integrated Europe are largely in place already. Their findings allow for optimism regarding the future of the EU, as the cultural foundations for a democratisation of Europe are laid. This volume develops a theoretical framework of a socially integrated European community, and will be useful for students and scholars of sociology, citizenship studies, social policy, political science and European studies.

This Research Handbook provides a panoramic guide to the study and research of EU citizenship and its development within a challenging environment characterised by restrictive access to social benefits, Brexit, Euroscepticism and Covid-19. It combines theoretical perspectives with analyses of both the existing and future rights, duties and social protection that EU citizens ought to enjoy in a democratic and principled European Union.

Frist published in 1997, this book aims to answer if European ‘post-national’ citizenship provide a practical opening and a conceptual challenge to cope with the diverse and close-circuiting crises of national European social models? What then might a new sphere of European social inclusion look like? This book also provided the first attempt to go well beyond ‘national gridlock’. Old solutions will no longer do. Is new land in sight? With monetary integration almost implemented this is a highly relevant exploration of a central complementary ‘common currency’ in Europe’s future.