How Free is the Freedom of Movement?: Transitional Arrangements and Beyond - Softcover

Cotiu, Madalina

9789731662008: How Free is the Freedom of Movement?: Transitional Arrangements and Beyond

Softcover

ISBN 10: 9731662006 ISBN 13: 9789731662008

Publisher: Editura Lumen, 2013

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The founding fathers created the European Union as a space of freedom and justice, which by bringing peace and economic prosperity was meant to prevent Europe from ever facing the destruction caused by the two World Wars. At first the emphasis was placed on the economic integration and one of its key elements was represented by the freedom of movement. The free movement of goods, capital, services and people was first mentioned in the Treaty of Rome and is also the guiding principle of the Single European Market. The free movement of persons is the first of the four rights defining the European Citizenship and therefore also an element of the political union. Due to the fact that the two Eastern European countries joining in 2007, Romania and Bulgaria, have faced stronger restrictions, their situation will be analyzed separately in the form of a case-study. This aims to illustrate the impact of the imposition of such transitional measures on the idea of identity and a common European citizenship. The allegations of the European Union using double standards as well as perceptions of the ‘2nd class citizenship’ will also be discussed. The general analysis will consider the main actors involved: the EU institutions, Member States governments and the European and national interests. Their interactions will be followed in the context of the European decision-making process with supranationalism and intergovernmentalism and the divide between the state-centric and society-centric policy making as defined by Mehmet Ugur2, providing the analytical framework. The ideas of Robert Putnam of a ‘two-level game’3 explaining the linkages between domestic interests and international bargaining will help us analyse the states` interactions in their attempt to ‘minimise risks and maximise benefits’, while at the same time considering the domestic roots of states preferences as they are explained by Simon Bulmer.

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