Intra-EU Labour Mobility and the Welfare State 65 4.1 Introduction A long-standing assertion concerning immigration and the welfare state is that ‘ultimately, national welfare states cannot coexist with the free movement of labour’ (Freeman, 1986, p. 51). Nevertheless, under current European Union (EU) law, not only are EU citizens able to freely reside and work in other EU member states, but they are also entitled to equal treatment in their residing country’s tax and benefit systems. Crucially, intra-EU workers (the focus of this article) are typically included in the social protection systems of their host nations from their first day of employment (Blauberger & Schmidt, 2014).1 As a result, the argument that immigration is an important consideration in the development of contemporary European welfare states has become increasingly relevant in academic research. However, while the jury is still out on how immigration impacts the welfare state (Burgoon & Rooduijn, 2021; Finseraas, 2008; Gaston & Rajaguru, 2013; Soroka et al., 2016), the topic continues to become ever more politicised and polarised. Part of the controversy is linked to a more general backlash against globalisation and everything that it entails. For example, as nations become increasingly connected through migration and trade, this raises fears around the erosion of longstanding traditions, cultural norms and values within the nation or of being economically ‘left-behind’ as labour markets change rapidly in light of increasing global competition. Intra-EU labour migration is tied up in the process of globalisation, as trade and capital flow more easily across borders, so do the migrants who fill the resulting gaps in European labour markets. By thinking of migration as the third key facet of globalisation, we borrow two key theories from the globalisation literature to better understand how immigration might affect the welfare state at the macro-level. First, the embedded liberalism thesis argues that in order for elites to maintain an open international economic order, governments need to provide a certain level of social protection to safeguard citizens from the risks brought about by globalisation (Ruggie, 1982).2 Whereas, the efficacy hypothesis argues that due to fiscal pressures arising from globalisation, governments seek to reduce welfare state effort in order to reduce the fiscal burden and stay competitive globally. With these arguments in mind, we aim to examine how intra-EU labour mobility has affected welfare state effort and welfare generosity across European countries. 1 EU citizens’ cross-border access to social benefits and the welfare systems of their country of employment or residence are governed by a highly complex set of rules from various treaty agreements, secondary legislation, and case law that in certain cases can condition this access by requirements such as length of residence, work, and contributions etc. 2 While Ruggie’s theory of ‘Embedded Liberalism’ was intended for the internationalisation of trade and capital, we argue it is generalisable to the globalisation of labour – i.e., international migration.
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