| Abstract [eng] |
This Master's thesis examines the impact of Brexit on the free movement of workers in EU in theoretical and practical aspects. The free movement of workers is a derivative principle of the four fundamental freedoms. In the European Single Market, it provides EU citizens with opportunities to search for better working conditions in another Member State. It was this particular principle that had a big impact on the decision of UK voters to vote in the referendum for UK withdrawal from the EU. This Master's thesis presents scenarios of the possible outcome of Brexit negotiations and their effects on the free movement of workers. Soft Brexit would mostly resemble the Norwegian model. Norway complies with EU directives and is a member of the EEA, thus, for the most part, UK would retain free access to the single market and almost unchanged economic relations with the EU, but would also have to comply with the principles of the single market. This means that, in this case, the free movement of workers would not suffer and EU employees would not be required to obtain work permits when travelling to the UK. The Norwegian model is not in the interests of the UK, as one of the reasons of its withdrawal from the EU was the free movement of workers. UK aims to create a new original model of cooperation with the EU which would be similar to that of Norway, but would have certain reservations, for example, regarding the free movement of workers. In the case of Hard Brexit, a standard withdrawal treaty would be signed which does not provide further cooperation. In this scenario, economic cooperation would be carried out according to WTO rules and UK would become a third-party country, meaning that it would no longer be a part of the single market. It is obvious that such a drastic scenario would undoubtedly have a significant impact on future bilateral EU-UK relations. In this case, the migration of EU citizens would be controlled by the UK and people coming to the UK for work would have to comply with the requirements that are currently applied to third country nationals. |
