David Cameron gave a “major speech” on EU free movement this past weekend.
Much of it is deeply grounded in the political situation in the UK, where the Conservatives have found themselves forced into a corner about immigration. And it speaks to the views of an important minority in the UK.
The full text of the speech can be found on the BBC web site, and is worth reading.
Steve Peers has written an excellent analysis of what would be needed to implement the proposed free movement changes of Cameron. You can use this to guage how likely or unlikely the Cameron proposals are to be implemented. Remember that treaty change is difficult!
A lovely response by Rafal Trzaskowski, deputy foreign minister in Poland, is very clear that Poland will agree to no discrimination on the grounds of nationality. He goes on to suggest that the UK could consider shifting to a contributory benefits system:
”This is an absolute red line, that there is no discrimination on grounds of nationality. If Britain were to change its policy, for example, into contributory system in which everyone has to pay in to get some money from the system we then could talk about changes if they were absolutely non-discriminatory.”
freedom of movement in the EU 