European Portability of Social Security Rights As a Paradigmatic Example of Transnational Social Citizenship

The nexus between migration and welfare have been one of the most contested issues of the European welfare state politics since the end of the Second World War. At the beginning of the 21^st century, the question of what categories of mobile EU citizens ‘deserve’ social membership is, once again, at the heart of debates around intra-European mobility. What is peculiar about current academic and political discourses on this issue is that scholars need to address the access to social rights of mobile EU-citizens in the context of the emergence of a supranational formation: the right to free movement and the equal treatments of mobile EU-citizens in terms of access to social rights as fundamental principles of the cross-border space of the Union. Building on the large-scale comparative project (Transwel, www.transwel.org), this paper provides a detailed conceptual basis for the analysis of the current interplay between intra-EU mobility and welfare within the European Union. The main conceptual innovation, which the paper provides is that it addresses the European social security coordination system as a paradigmatic example for the emergence of the transnational social citizenship in Europe. Building on the Foucauldian reading of citizenship, it introduces the concept of portability regime(s) that offers a broader understanding of cross-border membership patterns.