Editorial: The fragility of freedom of movement

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Further information about Intereconomics

Intereconomics publishes papers dealing with economic and social policy issues in or affecting Europe. The journal consists of the sections Editorial, Forum, Articles, and Letter from America.

The Editorial contains brief comments on current questions of economic policy.

In the Forum, several authors (researchers, politicians, representatives of trade unions and of employers associations, etc.) voice their opinions on one particular current economic policy problem.

The Articles deal with economic policy issues and trends. They are mostly written by economic researchers.

In the Letter from America, an economist from the US provides analysis of economic issues of transatlantic interest.

Intereconomics has an editorial process which allows it to quickly publish timely papers while they can still inform and influence policy makers. The editorial board of Intereconomics works in close cooperation with the editorial board of its sister publication Wirtschaftsdienst – Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftspolitik, which is published in German.On the morning of 24 June 2016, millions of EU citizens woke up to the news that the rights they took for granted for their very livelihood were not nearly as enshrined as they had previously assumed. The Brexit vote threatened the residency rights of the 3 million EU citizens in Britain as well as the 1.3 million British citizens residing in other EU member states. The result also reverberated around the 16 million EU citizens who in 2016 resided in member states of which they were not citizens.

Britain's decision to exit from the EU was born of a backlash against allegedly forced intra-EU migration, and it was assumed that the eventual Brexit to be pursued by the British government would involve a rejection of this aspect of European integration. Unfortunately for the British government, this aspect of European integration – freedom of movement – is one of the fundamental and inseparable four freedoms of the EU, and a rejection of any one of these meant a rejection of all four, and thus the all-important single market. Britain's opposition to freedom of movement in the EU therefore has made a hard Brexit all but inevitable, and this is an existential threat to those who have chosen to take advantage of this freedom.

• Primary Source

ESO: In Focus: Brexit - The United Kingdom and the European Union http://www.europeansources.info/record/brexit-the-united-kingdom-and-the-european-union/

Intereconomics: Archive http://archive.intereconomics.eu/years/

SpringerLink: Intereconomics http://link.springer.com/journal/10272

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