Administrating Contradictions: Free Movement, the Welfare State, and the European Union's Over-Constitutionalization

16 Pages Posted: 19 Mar 2020

See all articles by Michael Blauberger

Michael Blauberger

University of Salzburg, Salzburg Centre of European Union Studies (SCEUS)

Susanne K. Schmidt

University of Bremen

Date Written: March 24, 2017

Abstract

The European Union (EU) has to reconcile free movement rights with national welfare states. Case law of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has broadened rights to welfare of economically inactive or marginally active EU citizens. Applying the Court’s jurisprudence, which is vague and specific at the same time, poses serious challenges for national administrations. Vague criteria for individual assessments have to be translated into mass procedures. And legislative corrections of the case law are often foreclosed given the EU’s skewed separation of powers and the over-constitutionalization of European law, where crucial policy choices are taken by the Court’s Treaty interpretation. We compare the British and the German approaches and show that ECJ case law impacts through different channels, but triggers similar challenges for national administrations.

Suggested Citation

Blauberger, Michael and Schmidt, Susanne K., Administrating Contradictions: Free Movement, the Welfare State, and the European Union's Over-Constitutionalization (March 24, 2017). Public Administration, 95:2, 437-449, DOI:10.1111/padm.12313, 2017, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3542258

Michael Blauberger

University of Salzburg, Salzburg Centre of European Union Studies (SCEUS) ( email )

Mönchsberg 2
Salzburg, Salzburg 5020
Austria
+43-662-8044-7621 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.uni-salzburg.at/portal/page?_pageid=1625,1836014&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

Susanne K. Schmidt (Contact Author)

University of Bremen ( email )

Bibliotheksstr. 1
Bremen, D-28359
Germany

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
33
Abstract Views
193
PlumX Metrics