Making progress towards the completion of the Single European Labour Market

While the free movement of people is one of the four basic freedoms of the EU, the Single European Labour Market is still far from completion. Today, around 3% of EU citizens and an even smaller number of EU residents from third countries take advantage of the opportunities that the freedom of movement offer. In an effort to contribute to the advancement of the Single European Labour Market, and countering current popular political argumentation, this report by Claire Dhéret, Alex Lazarowicz, Francesco Nicoli, Yves Pascouau and Fabian Zuleeg aims to explore the strategic potential of intra-EU labour mobility for the benefit of the European (Monetary) Union, individual member-state economies and mobile workers themselves.

To this end, the authors propose an ambitious and comprehensive strategy towards labour mobility. This strategy aims to address obstacles to mobility, as well as create incentives to encourage people to move. It also aims to reinforce the role of public policies, both at the EU and national level, in order to address potential costs and optimise a better allocation of human resources.