The notion of worker in free movement law: the dilemma of expansion and fragmentation

Fulvia Ristuccia

Chapter 4 in Dilemmas of EU Free Movement Law, 2026, pp 60-88 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter analyses the personal scope of free movement of workers in light of the stark differences that still exist between the rights of economically active and economically inactive citizens. That personal scope depends on the definition of worker, which is a European autonomous notion and is remarkably broad. Given its breadth and its vague contours, it is not always clear how to apply that definition in liminal cases. Moreover, through what has been called the “work nexus”, there are situations that, despite one's economic inactivity, can still benefit from the rights granted to workers by EU law. The blunt loss of rights when one fails to qualify as economically active or match the work nexus, coupled with an expansive but fuzzy reading of the scope of free movement of workers, creates inconsistencies and ambiguities when the latter intersects with EU citizenship law, arbitrarily categorising citizens and fragmenting their rights.

Keywords: Free movement of workers; Personal scope; Economically active citizens; Economically inactive citizens; Liminal workers; Work nexus (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781839107825
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