During the POLPAN Seminar on September 1st, Dr. Justyna Salamonska (Migration Policy Centre, European University Institute) presented a paper titled “Europeanism from below? Cross-border practices and their implications for European integration project”, prepared in cooperation with Professor Ettore Recchi (Sciences Po, Paris).
Abstract:
In this paper we explore to what extent mobilities shape everyday lives of Europeans. We map out the patterns of physical and virtual mobilities, including intra-European migrations, international travels, but also individual networks across borders and online transactions. In particular we outline how free movement within the EU, one of the basic rights of EU citizens, is part and parcel of a broader ‘mobility mix’ of transnational practices. By applying LCA (latent class analysis) to a random sample of 6000 resident nationals in six EU member states (Germany, UK, Italy, Spain, Denmark and Romania: the EUCROSS survey of 2012) we build a typology of European cross-border practices, drawing a diversified picture of mobilities between two extreme positions of transnationalism and immobility. We describe in detail the typical configurations of social transnationalism in the light of their structuration on the basis of macro and micro categorical differences. Finally, we ask about the consequences of these mobilities for the European integration project by linking different mobility patterns identified with LCA analysis to attitudes towards Europe.