Free movement and the challenge of emigration: how does EU law structure redistribution through people?

EU free movement has resulted in social, economic and demographic challenges for some EU countries where large numbers of citizens have left This also implies a de facto transfer of resources between Member States and specifically from the periphery to the core. This article asks what room EU law leaves for acknowledging and mitigating social and economic consequences of emigration and their distributive implications. For this purpose, we conceptualise welfare states as intergenerational and socially reproducing systems. Our analysis reveals that while EU law accommodates concerns tied both to immigration and emigration, fewer legal options exist to address emigration. Looking beyond free movement law, we identify existing mechanisms in EU social security coordination and potential mechanisms relating to taxation and EU funds as legal possibilities to address negative externalities of emigration. The latter emphasise inter-State solidarity and shared risks of free movement. Studying the challenge of emigration, the article draws attention to a largely invisible and rarely discussed way in which EU law structures geographical inequalities.