An opportunity or a threat to cohesion : brain drain, young people, and geographical mobility in the EU

Abstract

The euro-crisis unexpectedly led to the return of South-North migration in the EU accompanied by persisting post-enlargement migration. This geographical mobility had a distinct character: intra-EU migrants were comparatively young and skilled. This phenomenon has led to considerable criticism that the Union is encouraging Brain Drain. This paper takes this criticism as starting point to provide a critical analysis of how the EU regulates young people’s geographical mobility, the group most often associated to Brain Drain. The findings made can also be relevant to the geographical mobility of other groups. More specifically, I make three points regarding young people’s geographical mobility. First, I argue that a comprehensive understanding of geographical mobility implies shifting our analytical lens from free movement law in a narrow sense to an analysis of what I understand as the regulation of geographical mobility and its many instruments. Second, I map the instruments used for the EU dimension in the regulation of young people’s geographical mobility. This framework is geared to promote geographical mobility without much regard for the perspectives of those who do not or cannot cross internal borders. Third, I argue for a more sustainable regulation of geographical mobility by the EU that empowers those who move and those who do not or cannot. In this sense, the paper is an argument for making geographical immobility as central to the Union as geographical mobility.