LIBE
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Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE):
The fear of rising ‘benefit tourism’: anticipating the removal of the restrictions to free movement for Bulgarian and Romanian citizens in 2014 and bearing in mind complaints of unequal access to social benefits within the Union, how should basic EU liberties be safeguarded whilst considering the socio-economic pressures placed upon the welfare systems of Member States?
Committee Article
Since the 2004 enlargement of the EU some of the more prosperous Member States, in particular the United Kingdom, have expressed concerns that citizens from new Members would travel to those with more generous welfare systems to exploit these. In theory this should be permissible through the freedom of movement afforded to all European citizens yet, with Bulgaria and Romania still not part of the Schengen area, interior ministers in Britain, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands have expressed a desire to impose stricter controls, especially on Bulgarian and Romanian nationals found to have previously committed benefit fraud. This issue has gained particular traction in the public consciousness and it is vital to separate anecdotal evidence from statistical. Although the concept of ‘benefit tourism’ may be a simple one it can be almost impossible to understand who is travelling to abuse the system and who simply requires the support we would happily give to our fellow citizens.
Links:
- UK seeks EU support over benefit tourism, FT: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8cf287a8-8749-11e2-bde6-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2TGIRCc5P
- How free is free movement? Dynamics and drivers of mobility within the EU: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/MPIEurope-FreeMovement-Drivers.pdf
- The impact of immigration on Europe‘s societies: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/e-library/documents/policies/immigration/pdf/general/emn_immigration_2006_en.pdf