Britain and the Other – Moral perceptions of the right to free movement in the European Commission and in the UK

Abstract

<p> As a result of the enlargement of the European Union (EU), the number of migrants from<br /> Eastern and Central European countries has expanded in the &ldquo;old&rdquo; Member States, after<br /> which some politicians and political parties have started to question the rationale of free<br /> movement. This article tackles this topical subject by analysing the moral aspects of the<br /> right to free movement, which is a fundamental right in the European Union. A new<br /> framework for analysing moral stances will be introduced, which makes it possible to<br /> analyze moral perspectives on a broader scale instead of focusing on single<br /> juxtapositions. As an illustrative example of the use of the framework, the attitudes<br /> toward free movement of three European Commissioners and United Kingdom (UK)<br /> Prime Ministers Gordon Brown and David Cameron will be presented in the timescale of<br /> 2007 to 2014. The UK did not establish any transitional restrictions for the new EU<br /> Member States that joined in 2004, but the number of migrants was larger than expected.<br /> Recently, Prime Minister David Cameron has presented measures to decrease the number<br /> of EU migrants. It will be argued that free movement is consistently justified by the<br /> Commissioners, while the British rhetoric is based more on the &ldquo;us/them-division&rdquo;.</p>