Freedom of Movement or Right to Stay? When Leaving Is No Longer a Matter of Choice
By Gloria Aleotti
The European Union is built on the idea of the Single Market, and at the heart of the Single Market lies one of its most celebrated achievements: the freedom of movement of goods, capital, services and people. For millions of Europeans, this freedom represents a unique opportunity: the ability to study, work, and build a life anywhere across the Union. But how many people actually move because they want to, rather than because they feel they have to?
The European project was founded by a group of visionary leaders who sought to secure prosperity and peace for the generations to come. Since then, the EU has become an integral part of our daily lives, with an estimated 60% of national legislation originating from EU laws. Yet the benefits of European integration have not been distributed evenly. While some regions have thrived, others continue to face challenges like economic stagnation, demographic decline and, overall, limited opportunities. As a result, for many Europeans, mobility is not a matter of choice as much as a response to necessity. This raises an increasingly important question: does freedom of movement truly exist when people cannot choose to stay?
From Treaties to Reality: How Freedom of Movement Became a European Right
In Eurobarometer surveys, freedom of movement within the EU-27 is often seen as the best achievement of the European Union, ranking above the euro, economic prosperity, or even peace. But how did such an area of free movement come about? Why did governments agree to give up what is widely considered a core function of the nation-state, that is to say, the control over its borders? And to what end?
In a way, the opening of borders represents a return to the past. Before the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, there were virtually no border controls or restrictions to labour mobility across the continent. The conflict marked a clear break, shifting cross-border movement into a matter of security, and passports and visa regimes were introduced for the first time in the continent.
In the 1950s, as Europe was beginning to recover from the aftermath of World War II and entering a period of strong economic growth, labour mobility was once again a priority. A shortage of skilled workers was believed to be a potential constraint on recovery. As a consequence, the freedom of movement of ‘workers’ was embedded in the Treaty of Rome (1957), which established the European Economic Community (ECC), the precursor to today’s European Union.
What followed was a large-scale movement of labour across the continent. Between 1958 and 1972, more than 8 million work permits were issued in Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany (the six founding members of the EEC). Around one third of these workers came from within the Community itself, with many coming from Italy, where industrialisation was lagging behind, and unemployment remained high.
Since then, the freedom of movement of ‘workers’ has gradually shifted towards the freedom of movement of ‘people’. Up until the 1990s, when freedom of movement became guaranteed for students, pensioners, and the unemployed, as well as for their families. This was a consequence of the Maastricht Treaty, which introduced the concept of ‘EU citizenship’. According to the TFEU:
‘Every citizen of the Union shall have the right to move and reside freely within the territory of Member States […].”
The process was made even easier by the Schengen Area, which removed passport checks in Europe’s internal borders, allowing people to travel, live and work across signatory countries with far fewer obstacles. Today, moving across Europe is something many of us take for granted. In most cases, all it takes is to book a flight, pack a suitcase and show your ID card. Yet, while it is true that moving has become easier, staying home is what’s proving to be increasingly harder. Rising housing costs, insecure employment and growing pressure on living standards are just some of the factors that make it increasingly challenging for people not just to live a life abroad, but more and more often even to remain in the places they already call home.
A Growing Divide: The Cost of Losing a Generation
Brain drain has become a challenge for many European countries and regions, which are losing some of their youngest, most educated and ambitious people. The countries that trained these individuals had previously invested in their education, yet the benefits of that investment are often reaped elsewhere, in the countries where they move and settle. As young workers leave, local economies lose skills, innovation and entrepreneurs. Public services struggle to recruit qualified staff, while shrinking populations make it harder to achieve sustainable growth. Over time, this risks creating a vicious cycle: the more people leave, the fewer opportunities remain, pushing even more people to look elsewhere. A recent report by the High-Level Group on the Future of Cohesion Policy shows that in 2023, about 135 million people, nearly one-third of the EU population, lived in regions that have slowly fallen behind over the last two decades. For many residents in these areas, relocating feels like the only viable option. This is a trend the EU cannot afford to ignore.
Migration patterns within the EU tend to follow fairly clear life stages, with different places attracting people at different moments of their lives. In their early twenties (around 20-24), young adults often move to cities to pursue higher education, which leaves smaller towns and rural areas with consistent outflows of population. This trend becomes even stronger between ages 25 and 29, when Europe sees its most intense internal brain drain. In fact, during these years, young workers tend to move from lower-income regions to more prosperous ones, driven largely by the search for better job opportunities. An analysis of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre highlights that it is at this stage that economic disparities between regions play their strongest role in shaping migration flows across the continent. The pattern then begins to reverse later in life. Between roughly 35 and 49, many start leaving major city centres in favour of nearby towns and rural areas, drawn by more space, lower housing costs and better access to schools. This shift towards suburbanisation is now a familiar feature across much of Europe.
Regions caught in this demographic cycle do not just lose people. They gradually lose economic dynamism, political influence and trust in institutions, which also leads to political dissatisfaction. The European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC) warns that many rural regions are approaching a critical threshold, below which it becomes more and more difficult to maintain essential services. And once a community falls below this point, decline tends to accelerate rapidly. This is not a distant scenario. In some regions, this process is already underway. In this context, EU Cohesion Policy, which has always aimed at reducing territorial imbalances across Europe, will be crucial in preventing this downward spiral from becoming irreversible.
The Right to Stay: Investing in Europe’s Communities
The Right to Stay is a new policy framework aimed at ensuring that all Europeans have the opportunity to build their future in the place they call home, rather than feeling compelled to leave because of limited opportunities, economic decline or inadequate access to essential services. It was officially launched during an event on 6 May and gained prominence after the publication of Enrico Letta’s 2024 report, Much More Than a Market, which identifies demographic decline as a growing challenge not only for Europe’s social cohesion but also for the long-term functioning of the Single Market. In this context, Cohesion Policy should play a key role in making ‘the choice to stay’ possible, by reducing territorial disparities and strengthening the economic and social foundations of Europe’s regions.
To help shape this initiative, the European Commission launched a Call for Evidence, which closed on 5 June, inviting citizens, local authorities, civil society organisations and other stakeholders to share their experiences and opinions. The contributions submitted paint a vivid picture of the challenges faced by many across Europe. Behind discussions of democratic decline and territorial disparities lie personal stories of young people having to leave their hometowns, families struggling to access essential services and regions trying to preserve their social and economic vitality. Their words are a powerful reminder of why the Right to Stay matters.
In the words of Enrico Letta:
‘We want Europe to flourish, a Europe where mobility is a choice and where it is circular: not only from east to west and from south to north, but in all directions.’
But, for that to happen, we have to act now.
