Social Europe along with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung has released a new position paper titled “Fair Mobility in Europe”. The release of this publication is quite timely for Eurodiaconia as we have just wrapped up a 2-day training event for our members on the freedom of movement of EU citizens.

The paper, which you can read in entirety here, emphasizes that the free movement of persons and in specific, labour mobility among Member States is an opportunity rather than a threat in Europe. The paper also presents practical ways in which migration issues can be handled better throughout Europe without any kind of treaty change or “cap” on migrants.

Over the past few days, this same idea of free movement as a strength of the EU was reiterated by the free movement training that was jointly hosted by Eurodiaconia and CCME (Churches Commission of Migrants in Europe. Through the training, several Eurodiaconia members as well as CCME members had the opportunity to listen to and learn from experts from the European Commission, key European migration law professors and immigration lawyers specializing in EU mobile citizens.

These experts explained key concepts within EU law concerning the free movement of persons and the free movement of labour that can help members when working with intra-EU mobile citizens back in their home countries.  A full report of the 2-day training event will be available in the coming weeks.