James Wickham

Portability of Social Protection in the European Union

This chapter explores the tensions between the European Union’s commitment to a single European labour market in which all member state nationals are treated equally and the continuing national basis of welfare systems. In particular, it highlights the dynamics between increasingly mobile European nationals who are accessing and moving their social welfare supports across the EU, EU directives guaranteeing equal protection among member state nationals, and national welfare implementation systems which have engaged in selective ‘restriction’ policies in response to EU enlargements during the 2000s. The chapter examines the topic using a case study of Polish migration to Ireland following Poland’s accession to the EU in 2004. The chapter argues that a rise in various forms of mobility has implications for national welfare systems and for individuals’ well-being. Although European citizens have relatively easier access to host-country welfare provisions than do non-EU nationals, access by the latter continues to be shaped by economic activity and residency requirements. Within this Irish context, we show that there were attempts to qualify EU social rights with the introduction of the Habitual Residency Condition (HRC) at the time of accession in 2004. The economic crisis helped facilitate the rolling back of social rights, particularly social welfare, as evidenced by the adjustment of the HRC towards the ‘centre of interest’. These measures have served to reassert the assumption that people live in one place, with accumulating benefits to be drawn down in that same place in the event of need.