This chapter demonstrates that the free movement framework is a manifestation of sustainable migration, where economic and social sustainability considerations dictate the attribution, limitation, or extension of rights of EU migrants. The analysis begins with an investigation of the 2004 enlargement. The differentiation of clauses and transitional periods, compared to previous Accession Treaties, brings to the forefront the way economic considerations dictate the attribution of rights to soon-to-be EU migrants. The relevant section draws attention to the limitation of rights for nationals of the CEECs in contrast to the full attribution of rights to nationals of acceding states who were not thought of as posing risks to the economic sustainability of the EU. And so, it highlights the legal tools devised to ensure sustainability of migration in the framework of accession. Following, it presents the current framework regulating free movement and suggests that its legal design should be understood as the most contemporary and elaborate manifestation of sustainable migration in law.

Following the aligned approach to the regulation of migration in the early years of the Community and the differentiation triggered by the political momentum of the 1990s, the period reviewed in this part can be characterized as one of realization and paradoxes. This final part primarily engages with valid law. Secondary law on migrants’ rights was amended for EU migrants and adopted for TCN migrants during this time. The analysis first identifies the ultimate balancing of economic and social objectives behind the limitation of rights of EU migrants as a manifestation of a sustainable migration framework. Second, it reveals the central role of economic considerations in the regulation of migration from third countries. It also suggests that national contestation and the lack of long-term considerations in the Council are among the reasons why the regulation of migration for TCNs cannot serve economic and social sustainability. Finally, concluding the historical analysis of the regulation of migration which started in Part I, this part reveals the paradoxes and tensions that arise from the way in which economic and social objectives are pursued through EU migration law.

This chapter examines the evolution of Association Agreements after the Single European Act and before the failed Constitutional Treaty. It begins by analysing the case-law on Association Agreements and it shows how the Court shaped an extensive system of rights for migrants in light of the role they played in the EU project of growth. This approach of the Court was not well received. Rather, Member States tried to restrict rights of migrant workers in Association Agreements concluded during this period precisely with the purpose of avoiding the transposition of the relevant case-law. The chapter also examines the clauses in enlargement and association with European developed countries, where the extension of rights to migrants was easily accepted.

This chapter looks at various initiatives related to the rights of TCN migrants before the Single European Act. It presents and evaluates the first binding measure adopted by the Community on coordination of national migration policies in 1985. The measure was devised with economic aims in mind and should be seen as the prelude to a Community policy on admission that was completed a lot later, in the new millennium. Around this time, the groundwork was laid for a set of rights for migrant workers. The analysis of soft-law instruments and legislative measures shows that, in this early period, emphasis was placed on shaping a migration policy characterized by full extension of equal treatment to TCN workers. Overall, this chapter shows the desire of the Community, as expressed via its institutions, to fully coordinate labour migration policies and to assimilate the rights of migrant workers so as to support economic growth in the Member States and to raise the living standards of the population legally resident in the Community, regardless of their nationality.

The chapter examines the framework guiding free movement from the 1950s to the Single European Act. After examining how free movement provisions were included in the Treaties, the analysis turns to the secondary law adopted to operationalize the free movement provisions. The analysis shows that free movement was structured as a labour mobility scheme aimed at addressing the uneven distribution of manpower between the Member States. At the same time, the social aims of the Community were to be realized through strategies related to achieving the full potential of labour mobility and maximizing productive activities in the Community industries. Next to the legal framework, the case-law of the Court which revolutionized the social rights of Community migrants by an extensive application of the free movement provisions is presented. The analysis in this chapter reveals the centrality of economic objectives in the reasoning of the Court as a basis for broad interpretations facilitating free movement. By promoting such objectives, the Court also guaranteed social progress for the Community migrants and their families in the form of rights they were entitled to.

This chapter analyses the current framework regulating migration from third countries. It is only in this period that the relevant secondary law was fully formed. The analysis reveals the extensive attribution of rights to those TCN migrants the EU most needs, that is, those who are considered crucial for the EU development project. In parallel, economic safeguards of different kind appear in the system to ensure that TCN migration can in no way pose risks to the EU project. Next to the legislative framework, the examination of the case-law of the Court highlights the consolidation of social objectives by an emphasis on Charter rights in review of national measures transposing secondary law. In this chapter, the investigation further shows the complete elimination of migrants’ rights from agreements concluded by the EU with third countries.

This concluding chapter first summarizes the findings of the main investigation and suggests that the problem behind the new objective of sustainable migration lies not so much in the effort to align migration with economic and social demands. This has after all been a constant feature of EU law as distilled from the historical investigation. Rather, the problem lies in the way the economic and social objectives of the EU are perceived by different actors. The chapter analyses the limitations that exist in the way EU law has historically aligned migrants’ rights to the economic and social objectives of primary law and reflects on what an EU sustainable migration can and cannot mean for the rights of migrants. Essentially, the analysis highlights that structural features of the EU legal order set very clear limits in attempts to envision an EU sustainable migration law. Finally, the chapter also presents a realistic vision of what an EU sustainable migration law could mean if the way economic and social objectives are considered was redirected and grounded on the current acquis.

This chapter addresses the special arrangements made to regulate migration from specific third countries in the period before the Single European Act. First, it will be shown how social and economic objectives, paired with favourable economic circumstances, laid the foundation for the extensive protection of Turkish workers under the EEC–Turkey Association Agreement. Following this, the analysis shows how economic cooperation with specific countries that were crucial for supplying migrant labour led to the attribution of rights to third-country nationals despite their exclusion from primary and secondary law. Finally, the chapter discusses enlargement processes and investigates how accession treaties concluded during this period were framed in light of ensuring the promotion of economic objectives, while limiting migration rights for nationals of acceding states. The analysis reveals the constant attempts by EU institutions to ensure that migration policy is aligned with the objectives of growth and progress, and thereby with the economic and social pillars of sustainability.

The chapter focuses on the evolution of the free movement framework in the period after the Single European Act and before the failed Constitutional Treaty. It presents the institutional ambition to disconnect economic objectives from the exercise of free movement rights, in an attempt to create a political community of European nationals. It shows how this ambition was reflected in the case-law of the Court, underlining that economic considerations were never detached from the relevant secondary law.