David Cameron and EU migration: Nasty, visionary – or just necessary?

Cameron’s statement on free movement in December 2013 may be intended to manage a ‘nasty’ British tendency to see EU migrants as scroungers or welfare fraudsters. But the prime minister has also pointed to a more fundamental problem. EU countries need to create a better legal and administrative infrastructure for free movement that allows them to anticipate and manage certain issues before they become political problems.