FREE MOVEMENT OF WORKERS AS AN INSTRUMENT OF CREATION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMON MARKET

Abstract

The creation of common market was based on four fundamental freedoms. These freedoms have remained the central issue of the EU, although their perception has significantly changed since the Treaty of Paris. The principle of free movement of workers, as a part of free movement of persons, facilitates the mobility of workers within the EU, as any citizen of EU member states is allowed to go to another member state for work, having the same workplace rights as the nationals. The principle of free movement of workers is associated with the lack of any discrimination between workers based on nationality, which is guaranteed by EU legislation. For these reasons, that principle at the same time remains one of the most controversial issues of the European integration. It is so because from the beginning of its existence, its realisation has required the necessity to reconcile – sometimes different – national interests for the sake of common market. Due to the significant disparities between member states regarding their economic status and standard of living, the principle of free movement of workers is often associated by the highly developed countries with the inflow of cheap labour force from the poorer member states that poses a real threat for its national labour markets and welfare systems. Considering the above mentioned facts, the article solves the research problem: to determine the place of the principle of free movement of workers in the process of creation of the European common market. The aim of this paper is to present the decisive stages in changing the perception of the principle of free movement of workers through the process of European integration. To achieve this aim, the main tasks are: to present free movement of workers at the beginning of European integration, the perception of free movement of workers at the struggle to implement the idea of EU citizenship, the perception of free movement of workers at the time of EU enlargements and the impact of the economic crisis of 2008+ on the realisation of free movement of workers. The paper presents a combination of several research methods: comparative analysis of international scientific works; comparative analysis and interpretation of the EU legal documents, strategies and practical papers as well as the analysis of the CJEU decisions in cases that involve the free movement of workers. The results of the article are: explanation of the emergence of the idea of free movement of workers at the beginning of European integration, presentation of the development of free movement of workers due to the implementation of the idea of EU citizenship, indication of the manner of implementation of free movement of workers for new member states, the way of realisation of free movement of workers at the time of economic crisis of 2008+.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.eis.0.9.12804