Freedom of movement under attack: Is it worth defending as the core of EU citizenship? 

"Union citizenship for UK citizens"

Glyn Morgan

Union Citizenship for UK Citizens

By Glyn Morgan (Maxwell School, Syracuse University)

In the wake of the Brexit vote, Floris de Witte’s defense of citizenship-based freedom of movement is as important as it is timely. In linking movement to citizenship, as de Witte notices, those who move have a secure status in their new country. In any member state, the new arrival is not a foreigner, not a guest, not someone who has to apologize for being there, but a citizen whose rights are guaranteed by the EU. No one can say: “you don’t belong here.” And if they did; the response would be: “I have the same rights as you to live and work anywhere in the EU.”

Now with Brexit, UK Citizens will lose freedom of movement, and Europeans resident in Britain will lose the protection afforded by Union Citizenship. More worrying still, Brexit threatens to unravel the postwar achievements of European integration. If the UK prospers in the immediate aftermath of Brexit, other countries might follow. A Europe of nation-states will be the outcome. The idea of a unified European polity powerful enough to defend itself and project its values abroad will be lost. 

The EU must act to ensure that Brexit is a failure. It can do this by crafty deployment of a carrot and stick strategy. The stick should come in the form of refusing the UK any privileged access to the Single Market without accepting freedom of movement. No “passporting” for the UK financial services industry—a key component of the British economy—should be allowed. US and other foreign banks should be forced to relocate their headquarters to an EU financial center. The EU should make crafty use of non-trade barriers to hinder the exports of British manufacturers. If the UK wants out of the Customs Union, then the EU should monitor in fine-grained detail, a slow and cumbersome process, the foreign component of UK exports. British visitors to the Continent should be required to attain expensive visas.  More here