Saturday, April 16, 2016
Concerto A (DoubleTree by Hilton Philadelphia Center City)
For differing reasons, EU Members have chosen to open their markets to individuals from other MS through accession or expansion. As the right of free movement of persons has become more visible, it has become apparent its intended outcomes have not been completely in line with its perceived results in both Western and Eastern MSs. This contribution takes news narrative as a conduit through which the 'pulse' of public discourse can be taken regarding EU legitimacy. As such, it explores how open and inclusive policy-making in the field of freedom of movement is perceived to be in the broader society. It uses high-circulation print media to assess shifts in throughput legitimacy of two important MS with opposite motives – i.e. Poland and UK. Overall, the right of free movement serves as a lens through which to reveal the clash between EU supranational ideals of solidarity underpinning a single market and the persistence of national collective identity. It will argue that the manner in which the visible unintended consequences of integration are managed by the EU’s policy processes in relation to uninhibited intra-EU migration serves as a barrier to the resilience of EU integration. This is due to the fact that free movement is viewed in conflicting ways in west and east as a national 'use of Europe' as opposed to a fundamental freedom accorded to all EU citizens. As long as there is no form of affective solidaristic identification with Europe, prospects are pessimistic for the Union's throughput resiliency
