Free to move? The acceptance of free movement of labour and non discrimination among citizens of Europe

Abstract:

The article first describes how the European Union has replaced the idea of nationally bounded freedom to move, settle, and work with the idea of free movement for all Europeans and the notion of non-discrimination. The second section gives an analysis of the extent to which citizens of different European countries support the idea of non-discrimination between nationals and European foreigners. The empirical basis for our analysis is the 'European Values Study'. The descriptive findings show that the idea of non-discrimination is not supported by the majority of the European citizens, and that there are substantial differences between the countries. In the third section, we explain these differences by referring, among other factors, to the level of modernization of a country, the value orientation of the respondent, the level of education of the respondent, and the unemployment rate.