Freedom of Movement in the EU and Welfare State Closure. a Challenge for Mobility and Life Chances?

European integration supports a vision of social via spatial mobility. Therefore, freedoms granted to trade and capital got extended to the citizens of member states. In addition to the single market, EU citizenship was created which encourages Europeans to live anywhere in the EU irrespective of employment or social status. Equality in rights and non-discrimination are the core principles that regulate the mobility of EU citizens. EU institutions and judiciaries ensure rights and privileges diminishing the costs of moving to another EU member state. As a consequence, the boundaries that member states defined between the rights of own and EU citizens became blurry. The paper seeks to answer the question what member state governments do if EU mobility becomes an issue of public and political salience because of the fear for negative budgetary implications. It is scrutinized whether and how member states restrict access of EU citizens to their welfare states within the constraints set by EU primary and secondary legislation. The comparison of policy response in three EU member states, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK offers insight into how freedoms and rights attached to EU citizenship are redefined from the bottom up.