Mobile pensioners: retirement migrants’ perspectives of EU citizenship and free movement

Abstract

The European institutions picture EU citizens as important actors in the process of transforming EU citizenship into a "tangible reality". By knowing and practising EU citizenship rights, EU citizens are supposed to give meaning and depth to the otherwise hollow concept of EU citizenship. What EU citizenship means for mobile citizens themselves and how EU citizens practice and evaluate their rights ("lived citizenship") is generally not a central theme in reports and studies on EU citizenship. In this article the value of EU citizenship will be discussed by applying a qualitative research approach and by focusing on retired EU citizens' perspectives and practice of, in particular, free movement. This article applies a comparative approach and includes EU citizens who move or return from the Netherlands to Spain or Turkey after retirement. Four groups of EU citizens move between these countries: Dutch nationals who move to Spain, Spanish nationals who return to Spain, Dutch nationals who move to Turkey and Turkish dual-nationals who return to Turkey after retirement. This article shows that migratory background, country of origin, country of retirement and the way in which EU citizenship is acquired determine retirement migrants' perspectives and practice of EU citizenship.

Migrating to a new country in late life: A review of the literature on international retirement migration

“…Some articles compared different nationalities in different countries (8%). For example, Gehring (2019) and Ackers and Dwyer (2004) examined citizenship issues and free movement. Other articles compared migrants from the same country of origin to multiple destinations (8%), such as British retirees in Italy, Malta, Spain, and Portugal (Warnes et al 1999).…”

Impacts of Second Home and Visiting Friends and Relatives Tourism on Migration: A Conceptual Framework

“…An SH is often purchased with a view to a future change of residence, especially by people who want to improve their lives and take advantage of cost and quality of life differentials compared to their usual place of residence. These transfers give rise to retirement, investment, and lifestyle migration, all of which represent privileged forms of migration and give birth to long-term tourism flows [108][109][110]. Such migratory patterns originate largely from Western countries and promote significant flows of SH tourists; they are primarily composed of people, especially pensioners, who settle, permanently or almost permanently, in a new place, sometimes in their family's country of origin.…”