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Ettore Recchi and Adrian Favell (eds) Pioneers of European integration. Citizenship and mobility in the EU (Cheltenham and Northampton, Edward Elgar Publishing inc., 2009)

ETTORE RECCHI AND ADRIAN FAVELL (EDS)PIONEERS OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION.CITIZENSHIP AND MOBILITY IN THE EU(CHELTENHAM AND NORTHAMPTON, EDWARD ELGARPUBLISHING INC., 2009)Sofia GasparCentre for Research and Studies in Sociology Lisbon University InstituteLisbon, Portugalsofia.gaspar@iscte.ptRecibido: 13/5/2010Aprobado: 4/6/2010Never before has European social integration been one of the foremost topicsof discussion in political and civic debates across EU member states. At a timewhen national and European political representatives are striving to defendeconomic and financial stability within the Euro-zone, the emergence of aEuropean society in which specific social groups stand out due to their valuesand social practices becomes crucial. Thus far, the free movement of personsthat enables people to move, settle, travel, study, work and retire in any memberstate is one of the most important principles established by the EuropeanUnion and it has had a direct impact on citizens’ lives. Even though intra-EUmobility is marginal according to official figures (only around 2% of citizens’move to another EU country), this phenomenon should be taken as the primeindicator of the rise of European citizenship. This volume edited by Ettore Recchi and Adrian Favell is the final outcomeof the PIONEUR project –Pioneers of European Integration ‘from below’:Mobility and the Emergence of European Identity among National and ForeignObets. Revista de Ciencias Sociales. Vol. 5, n.º 1, 2010; pp. 135-140Citizens in the EU, funded by the European Commission through the FifthFramework Programme, and involving cross-national research encompassingthe five biggest countries of the EU15 (France, Germany, Great Britain, Italyand Spain). The chapters build on the dataset resulting from the project -European Internal Movers Social Survey (EIMSS) -, in which 4902 intra-EUmigrants who had moved to one of the above countries between 1973 and2003 were interviewed between 2004 and 2005. The novelty of the selectedsampling procedure allowed a comparison of the same migrant groups indifferent host countries. A questionnaire was developed using new items aswell as others from the European Social Survey (ESS) and the Eurobarometer(EB) and it was applied to the overall target population. Questions focusedon socio-demographic information, migration history, European and nationalidentity, social integration and political behaviour were included as to examinesome major themes in the lives of EU movers. Pioneers of European Integration is organised in nine chapters that aim toaddress some of the individual and social consequences in the lives and practicesof the EU’s intra-mobile citizens. In the first chapter, Recchi and Favell developa critical overview of some inherent topics to the free movement process(history of free mobility rights, the economic and political rationales underl-ying this principle, and stocks of mobile citizens in the EU) before presentinga guide to the book. The contents of the subsequent chapters can be divided undertwo core headings: Chapters 2-4 offer a socio-demographic characterisationof EU mobile citizens, while Chapters 5 to 8 focus on the identities, behavioursand attitudes that distinguish these individuals when compared with EU sta-yers. Chapter 9 concludes with an analysis of the social and legal barriers thatEastern European movers face in their mobility within the EU in relation totheir Western counterparts.In Chapter 2, Michael Braun and Camelia Arsene start by characterisingthe socio-demographic background and contextual details of mobile citizens,before presenting a heterogeneous portrait based on age at the time of migrationand duration of stay in the destination country. The findings lead to fourdifferent clusters of EU movers –‘late traditional migrants’, ‘pure retirementmigrants’, ‘pre-retirement migrants’ and ‘Eurostars’–. The first cluster includestraditional migrants belonging to classical south-to-north labour flows whomoved at the age of 26 years and were settled for about 24 years in theirdestinations countries; the second refers to northern retired citizens whomigrated to the south in search of a better quality of life at the age of 60 yearsand were living in the host countries for an average of 8 years. Individuals inthe third cluster comprehend a recent trend of mobile citizens which involvesSofía Gaspar136Obets. Revista de Ciencias Sociales. Vol. 5, n.º 1, 2010; pp. 135-14044 year-old movers settled for 13 years whose main motivation was also toimprove their quality of life. The last type of mobile EU citizens representsyoung European professionals who migrated at the age of 28 and were livingin the host society for about 8 years.In line with these four ‘ideal types’ of movers, in Chapter 3 OscarSantacreu, Emiliana Baldoni, and Maria Carmen Albert analyse the intrinsicmotives for living across national borders, by addressing both the personal andfamily dimensions supporting that decision. The major outcome of the EIMSSsurvey is that the affective sphere (‘family/love reasons’) is the most frequentdriver behind moving in Europe nowadays, followed by ‘quality of life’, job-related motives and, lastly, ‘study’ factors. These findings are in stark contrastwith the major motivation for intra-European mobility up till the 1970’s -work and economic rationales –and demonstrate Europeans’ migrationpatterns have changed mainly by personal and sentimental motivations sincethat period. This phenomenon reinforces the idea that the intra-EU space isbeginning to acquire more internal than international features which might wellintensify and widen the European social integration process in the long term. In Chapter 4 Ettore Recchi compares the EIMSS and ESS datasets so as toassess the inter- and intra-generational social mobility of free movers. Thisanalysis helps clarify whether EU spatial mobility is the pull factor to upwardsocial class movements like in most classical migration projects. Recchi reachesthe conclusion that although the intergenerational mobility of movers andstayers is largely the same, lower class citizens take better advantage of theirintra-European mobility than their upper-middle class counterparts.Moreover, this phenomenon also reveals some country-origin specificitiessince citizens who most exhibit upward social mobility normally come fromSouthern countries like Spain or Italy. In short, despite benefiting those fromless privileged social backgrounds, upward social mobility is no greateramong intra EU movers than among stayers. In the next chapter, Antonio Alaminos and Oscar Santacreu concentrateon some central issues related to the social (linguistic competence and socialnetworks) and cultural integration (national orientations and mobility expec-tations) of EU movers in host societies. Evidence for the social integrationindex indicates that EU movers master the language of their living countryquite well and tend to have more non-national social networks than the natives.On the other hand, cultural integration indicators reveal that althoughmovers are happier than those who stay in their country of origin, they maintaina two-fold wish to either return to their origin countries or keep in the hostsocieties.Pioneers of european integration. Citizenship and mobility en the EU 137Obets. Revista de Ciencias Sociales. Vol. 5, n.º 1, 2010; pp. 135-140In Chapter 6, Nina Rother and Tina Nebe address national and Europeanidentity issues. Since the emergence of a European identity is said to be associatedwith free movement, the authors draw up a typology based on differentcombinations of national (country of origin and country of destination) andEuropean identifications. Rother and Nebe conclude that EU movers aremore Europeanized than stayers whether or not they present some kind ofidentity problem (‘cognitive dissonance’). Approximately half of the respondentsdid not reveal any identity conflicts and exhibited tripartite identities (strongaffiliations towards the country of origin, country of destination and Europe).It is asserted that these findings suggest that European identity might be anadditional neutralising layer which contributes to reducing possible identitytensions between origin and destination cultures. In the following Chapter, Anne Muxel draws on the political portrait ofEU movers. On the whole, discrepancies are found between the values andbehaviours of this social group since they are less engaged in national andlocal political activities than those non-moving citizens, and on the otherhand, show a strong interest in the European project and greater participationin EU elections. Moreover, and despite differences in politization levelsamong countries, leftist inclinations, cultural liberalism and universalisticvalues are the ideological positions shared by EU free movers. The media’s role in the rise of a European ‘public sphere’ is another topicthat is central to EU social integration. In Chapter 8 Damian Tambini and NinaRother look at media consumption practices among EU movers, and find thatthey use transnational and European media whenever possible. Compared tothe consumption rates of national stayers, mobile citizens devote more time tointernet, television and the press, although this transnational consumption alsogoes in hand with other sources local media uses. Variables that seem toinfluence consumption of media from the origin or destination country includehaving a partner from the host society, age on migration and years of stay in thehost country. However, these results do not allow placing EU movers either asconsumers of media market from the country origin or destination, sinceco-national media engagement is the most frequent scenario. The book ends with a somewhat suggestive theme which calls for furtherresearch: are Eastern movers put on the same footing as their Western coun-terparts? In Chapter 9, Adrian Favell and Tina Nebe advance some interestingresults based on a qualitative pilot-study conducted parallel to the EIMSSsurvey, involving citizens of new member states joining in 2004 (Poland) andin 2007 (Romania). The results of the 40 in-depth interviews show that thespatial trajectories of Eastern EU movers are more similar to classical migrationSofía Gaspar138Obets. Revista de Ciencias Sociales. Vol. 5, n.º 1, 2010; pp. 135-140experiences than those of Western movers. Eastern citizens refer to sufferingfrom informal discriminatory practices and legal structural barriers whentrying to access jobs or everyday services. Indeed, Pioneers of European Integration provides new and original insightsinto the values, behaviours, and experiences of mobile citizens by tacklingformal and informal barriers that individuals who dared to make active use oftheir free movement opportunities must still overcome within the EU. The bookopens avenues for further reflections that have yet to be empirically sustained orchallenged. First of all, one of the most important results unveiled by this datais the leading role played by the affective sphere in EU mobility. Love is thereforean important social trigger for moving and is one of the driving forces behindindividual intra-EU migration and the reason for a more permanent stay in aforeign culture. More specifically, nearly 30% of the respondents of EIMSSreported that sentimental reasons (‘living with partner/spouse/children) had ledto their move, 61.6% of whom were married or cohabiting with a native citizenof the destination country. These figures suggest that EU bi-national marriagesrepresent around two thirds of all moves for affective motives. This being thecase, these liaisons may create and stimulate different dynamics, strategies andidentities within family life that may trigger the enhancement of a European citi-zenship. As such, parallel to the technocracy of EU institutions, ‘love’ and ‘affec-tion’ may be a rising social reality in the coming decades that may, at a privatelevel, help build the roots of a European society ‘from below’.A second issue in need of further study is the meaning of ‘self-employment’among these migrants. The evidence provided by Ettore Recchi showed thatEU movers are overrepresented in self-employed jobs. This can include bothowning a small business and also less well paid situations with some instabilityand without full entitlement to social security protection, e.g. low-statuspart-time jobs in the service sector. Even though EU citizens’ access to thelabour market in other member states is legally more straightforward thanthat of non-EU migrants, self-employment may be the only way to overcomesubtle forms of informal discrimination against people who do not fully masterthe native language or the social structures of host societies. Self-employmentmay be the only way some EU migrants can stop being relegated to under-privileged conditions or unemployment in their destination countries. Morein-depth qualitative reports are therefore required to examine whether somekinds of working and professional trajectories are linked to social processesthat hide invisible discriminatory practices. A final topic warranting further analysis is the symbolic status associatedto specific nationalities and its relation to social integration patterns. In somePioneers of european integration. Citizenship and mobility en the EU 139Obets. Revista de Ciencias Sociales. Vol. 5, n.º 1, 2010; pp. 135-140national contexts, European citizens tend to have more symbolic prestige associatedwith their nationality than non-EU individuals. ‘Being European’ or ‘Western’symbolises belonging to an ethnic group which enjoys positive advantages inan ‘ethnic ranking system’ and the probability of being subjected to negativesocial discrimination is therefore lower. This ‘positive discrimination’ may betransformed into symbolic capital that can act as a powerful tool in developingsuccessful adjustment practices into the receiving country. But is this alwaysso? The findings reported in the book are only restricted to the five largestEU15 countries, but what happens when we compare the integration of‘minor’ ethnic nationalities in ‘dominant’ contexts; or, like Favell and Nebedid, we assess Westerners’ moving patterns to those of Easterners? Is thesocial status associated to the nationality of a Greek or a Bulgarian free moverin Denmark similar to that of a British or a German? Even after controllingfor social class’ effects, do social images attributed to different EU nationalitiesdetermine the level of integration and social opportunities into a hostcountry? In addition to its undoubtedly original contribution to the understandingof intra-EU migrants, Pioneers of European Integration is a stimulus for researchinto several issues that help shape a sociology of the European Union. As theeditors wish to at the end of the book, only time will ascertain whether theseEU pioneers will contribute to a ‘better and brighter Europe for all’.Sofía Gaspar140Obets. Revista de Ciencias Sociales. Vol. 5, n.º 1, 2010; pp. 135-140

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Ettore Recchi and Adrian Favell (eds) Pioneers of European integration. Citizenship and mobility in the EU (Cheltenham and Northampton, Edward Elgar Publishing inc., 2009)

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