Compensating for the effects of emigration. Eastern Europe and policy response to EU freedom of movement

ABSTRACT

Freedom of Movement (FoM) has paradoxical implications for Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries: it facilitates brain drain and general population loss but also enjoys continuously high appreciation from Eastern Europeans. Against this background, the article addresses the question: how do FoM-driven expectation gaps— gaps between FoM policy design and outcomes – trigger policy responses? Borrowing from institutional change theories the article identifies new institutions that are added to FoM at the EU level. It argues that these new institutions, called ‘layers’, are established alongside the existing EU principle for the purpose of addressing critique that arises from gaps. To preserve the status quo of the FoM principle and its function for the single market, the layers define incremental changes to the overall policy framework of FoM. They introduce a compensation mechanism for population loss and Commission agency on demographic change and migrant return.

KEYWORDS:

• Brain drain
• Central and Eastern Europe
• EU freedom of movement
• institutional layering

Acknowledgments

I wish to thank Martin Seeliger for fruitful exchange on our joint DFG-project ‘Paradoxes of EU Freedom of Movement’ and the interviewees in Brussels and Romania. I also want to thank Suat Alper Orhan for his research assistance and Laura Cunniff and Jonathan Mole at Europa-Universität Flensburg for their editorial support. The article benefited greatly from excellent comments by the two reviewers and from discussions with Susanne K. Schmidt and colleagues during a VirEUs online colloquium organized by Michael Blauberger.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by funding of the German Research Council (RO 6338/2-1). Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.

Notes on contributors

Christof Roos

Christof Roos is Juniorprofessor for European and Global Governance at Europa-Universität Flensburg.