Free Movement Law within the European Union: Workers, Citizens and Third-Country Nationals

Abstract

Of all the regional integration processes that include free movement of persons as one of their objectives, the European Union (EU) is traditionally considered as the paradigm of success. Provisions related to the free movement of workers, services and the right to establishment were already at the centre of the integration project set up by the foundational Treaty of the European Economic Community (EEC), today superseded by the EU. When compared to the shortcomings and implementation difficulties faced by other regional experiences, it is clear that the European developments in the field of free movement of persons have strongly benefited from the overall institutional and legal structure of the organization. From the very inception of the European integration project, the binding nature of EU Acts has been buttressed by the determination of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to stress the specific features of a new legal order, which has autonomously defined the principles governing its relationship with national law. As a result of the incremental process of refinement that has been taking place for decades, EU Acts are equipped with a full panoply of principles that confirm and strengthen their effectiveness: they enjoy primacy over conflicting national rules; they are directly applicable if sufficiently clear and precise; they can engage the patrimonial responsibility of States if they fail to comply with EU law, causing damages to private parties.