This lecture describes the emergence of a new vision of the European. It highlights, in particular, its liminal nature: being European is increasingly a status that is both highly prescriptive and deeply precarious. Only those Europeans that are (economically) productive actors, and whose capacities and actions speak to their ability and willingness to integrate, are seen as ‘deserving’ protection under EU law when it comes to rights to residence, equal treatment, and protection against expulsion. This notion of liminality, however, is not only a useful category to describe recent changes in EU law. It also comes with significant normative implications for the EU and its future.
FNR LECTURE SERIES IN EUROPEAN AND COMPARATIVE LABOUR LAW “Solidarity and the European Social Model”
Funded by the FNR Rescom – Rescom/2019/13969324