The “other” EU Security: Social Protection

Abstract

This paper focuses on the issue of social security in the EU as a different kind of security. It addresses four topics: the reluctance of the Member States to give up their legislative power to harmonise their social security systems within the European Union; the use of social security as a means of excluding unwanted immigrants; the social security protection of TCNs in EU legislation; and the possibilities of Article 14 European Convention of Human Rights, which prohibits discrimination, securing the entitlement to social security rights of TCNs. It concludes that the state's duty to provide security is no longer an exclusive privilege for own citizens and that the changing legal framework of citizenship in the European Union, the European Convention of Human Rights and the acquisition of EU residence rights by TCNs all challenge the sovereignty argument used by the individual states.