Why and to what extent is EU law on the free movement of persons ‘shareable’ with the EEA?

Abstract

The task of translating how freedom of movement as a field of EU law should apply in the EEA is taken up mainly by those working directly in that context. Fundamentally, that work addresses the receivability and the shapeability of EU law for the EEA. But the EEA Agreement is also an integral part of the EU legal order. This paper therefore argues that the implications of EEA relevance should be acknowledged and addressed more consciously by EU actors too. Using the aggregated composition of free movement rights and Union citizenship in EU law as a case study, it highlights the responsibilities of the EU by raising methodological and systemic questions that affect the shareability of EU law beyond the EU and its Member States. Shareability is an under-explored aspect of EU law generally. In an autonomous legal order defined by its specific and essential characteristics, it is not straightforward to detach concepts and principles of EU law from their dense systemic context. However, it is argued here that the objectives and values shared by the EU, its Member States and EEA EFTA States provide a firm basis for deep shareability of EU law in that specific context.