People – the forgotten chapter? From the EU’s neighbourhood policy to post-Brexit Ireland (north and south) – and lasting damage to the integrative capacity of the EU Internal Market project

Abstract

Following distorted perceptions of the role of people movement in the European Union (EU), the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom does not enable people movement to the same extent as other Association Agreements between the EU and its other neighbouring states. Even the much discussed Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol (also Windsor Framework) largely ignores people movement, whose protection on the island of Ireland remains weak as a result. This note argues that forgetting the people matters, not only on grounds of the principles, but also for practical relations on the island of Ireland. The island of Ireland accordingly presents an astute case-study for the inherent problems of economic relationships between states which deprioritise person movements. It will start with summarising the principled relevance of free movement of persons, contextualise the state of affairs on the island of Ireland with the EU’s general approach to trade agreements beyond and within its neighbourhood, highlight the complexity of the state of affairs and illustrate its shortcomings through two current examples.