At the heart of the concept of the European Union (and its predecessor the European Economic Community) is the idea that citizens of the union should have the right to live and work in any member state. Also, some older (notably British) citizens have chosen to retire to a warmer climate on the shores of the Mediterranean. Traditionally, this inter-European migration has involved students, scientists, engineers and business professionals, in the main. The reason for this is that it is quite an upheaval to move to a new country, sever ties (to a greater or lesser extent) with friends, family and the culture you have grown up with and embrace a new land and, often, new language. The vast majority of European citizens have (and still do) always chosen to remain where they grew up and besides, the benefits to the ordinary citizen of becoming an expatriate are too marginal to be worthwhile.
With the expansion of the EU to nations formerly from behind the Iron Curtain, the standard of living on offer in the older member states was perceived to be substantially better than at home and waves of EU migrant workers began to wash up on the shores of those states. In general, migrants with modest education and skill levels take up low skill jobs that indigenous workers are reluctant to accept, but it is claimed that some move to take up social security benefits which are much more generous than those on offer at home – but of course the living expenses in their new homes are also vastly higher than at home. The exact extent of the problem and numbers involved in the UK and other long-established EU nations remain unclear, but public perception seems to be that any migrant is either a “social security scrounger” or is undercutting the wages of the native workers. Politics, after all, is about perception.
David Cameron is keen to “renegotiate Britain’s deal with the EU” and part of this mission involves the perception of migrants coming to the UK to enjoy British social security benefits paid for by hard working Brits. The Prime Minister has described the current migration situation as “not sustainable” and wants to curb the benefits available to migrants. He noted that the core idea of free movement of citizens was “a basic treaty right and a key part of the single market, but it was never envisaged that free movement would trigger quite such vast numbers of people moving across our continent. And countries have got to be able to cope with all the pressures that can bring - on our schools, our hospitals and other public services. Net migration in the UK is running at well over 300,000 a year and that is not sustainable. So we do need to find ways to allow member states to make changes to their social security systems that will help them to deal with this issue."
Mr Cameron will need to tread a fine line between upholding the rights to free movement enshrined in the Treaty of Rome and curtailing the rights to benefit tourism. It is likely that older member states will have some sympathy for the UK position, having the same problems at home to a greater or lesser extent, but that newer members may be reluctant to agree to any changes. Time will tell.