Free movement of workers: Changing the european society

Abstract

Free movement of persons is one of the fundamental freedoms guaranteed by European laws. For workers, this freedom was set up since the beginning of the European selforganization by the European Council and the Economic Community. When this Community was established in 1957, that free dom became one of its leading principles. Since the Treaty of Maastricht, it is an essential element of European citizenship, and there fore an element of the civil community and of the democracy of the Union, too. Today, this freedom is guaranteed in Article 18 of the Treaty Establishing the European Community as a civil right and especially in Article 39 of that Treaty as a fundamental freedom. Because of this connection of a right for individuals and a status defining a corporation and community, I will discuss the thesis that free movement of workers can build or change the European society.