More solidarity than meets the eye? : Challenges and prospects for social Europe

EU citizenship has long been considered as a mere instrument to uphold a common labour market resting on free movement. Worker mobility is however raising increasing social and political strains within and between countries. The paper argues that EU benefits should be made more visible and salient for ‘stay at home’ people, in order to defuse the formation of a potentially disruptive cleavage between stayers and movers. This can only be done through enhancing the social dimension of EU citizenship, building on existing but poorly visible EU funds and programs.