EU Citizenship and Social Rights : Entitlements and Impediments to Accessing Welfare

The Maastricht Treaty of 1992 introduced the right to free movement for EU citizens. Despite this, in practice there are still substantial barriers to securing these freedoms. EU Citizenship and Social Rights discusses and analyses those legal and practical barriers preventing inter-European migrants from integrating into new host countries. Providing analysis of the development of EU social policy, this book highlights the disparate roles of the EU as a whole and of Member States in determining social rights and outcomes. In particular the issues of social assistance, housing benefits, study grants and health care are examined. In addition, the authors discuss the discrepancy between the social rights granted to workers and social rights granted to non-worker migrants, as well as the barriers facing minority groups like the Roma, which highlight issues in the development of EU social policy for migrants. This book will be a vital resource for students of European law as well as public and social policy. EU policy makers will also benefit from reading this, with its practical and theoretical suggestions for ways in which social policies may be amended to the benefit of EU citizens.