Where do I belong? This is a question all mobile persons are bound to ask themselves at one time or another. When crossing borders, individuals establish links with States, which can be the basis for legal claims against these States. This book discusses the issue of these links and, more specifically, the question of how EU law defines the link needed to obtain the right to reside in a Member State and the right to social and employment protection in that State. When it comes to claiming rights from States, traditionally 'nationality' is the answer to the question where a person belongs. However, in the context of European integration and the development of an EU legal framework of internal market rules, citizenship rights and immigration rules, different answers to these questions have been developed. From this perspective the various chapters of this book examine instruments such as the Citizens Directive 2004/38, the Family Reunification Directive 2003/86, the Long-term Residence Directive 2003/109, the Social Security Coordination Regulation 883/2004, the Rome I Regulation 593/2008 and the Posting of Workers Directive 96/71. The case-law of the Court of Justice on these issues is of course a central element therein. The analyses of scholars from different legal disciplines in the fourteen chapters of this book show that EU law gives a multitude of answers to the question which link is necessary and sufficient to create an individual's right vis-à-vis a State. The definition of this link, the criteria used and the legal consequences differ according to the legal framework the individual finds himself/herself in and the legal instrument he/she invokes. Moreover, the criteria used in legislation and case-law continue to be the subject of problems of interpretation and application, which in turn leads to legal uncertainty or even confusion.'[...] the book significantly elevates the discussion around EU (social) law as it [applies] to mobile persons, focusing on some of the most important aspects of a person's life, such as residence, unity with family members, employment and social (rights) protection. These topics are at the forefront of EU integration and social policy, which this adds value to this excellently written book. Primož Rataj, European Journal of Social Security (2017) vol.19 (3), 287

The economic unification of Europe has created a lot of victims. The realization of the single market has taken place without any adjusting or accompanying economic and social policies. Its effects on social and human relations go far beyond the economic and commercial areas its authors had in mind. It has in fact led to changes in European society that are so far-reaching that they could very well be characterized as mutations. This book looks at the phenomenon of social dumping in the wider context of liberalized social competition as steered by the European Union. It contains a number of testimonies by people who actively fight social dumping, with special attention paid to the harrowing dumping practices in the road transport sector. Some of the authors also examine the phenomenon of social dumping in relation to compliance with the fundamental right of all workers to respect for their dignity as human beings. In this respect, the underlying question is whether, by tolerating legislation that allows human dignity to be violated by social dumping, the European and national legislators in fact infringe on this key fundamental right. This book is intended for practitioners, academics, researchers and policy-makers working in the area of social policy. With academic contributions from Marc Rigaux, Wolfgang Daübler, Jan Buelens and Lies Michielsen, Herwig Verschueren, Barbara Kresal, Gian Guido Balandi, Fieke Van Overbeeke, Ferran Camas Roda and Walter Gagawczuk. The book concludes with a number of testimonies from the field.

Dedicated to Professor Jos Berghman (1949-2014)The current retrenchment of the welfare states is buffering the growing demographic and economic pressures in European countries at the expense of the young and the elderly, and particular subgroups with intersecting high-risk characteristics. However, both investing in the young, which determines a society's future, and providing public support for the elderly, the most deserving needy group, are seen as musts. This book encompasses selective studies addressing policies and institutional settings, individual outcomes and attitudes towards governmental responsibilities. Focusing on the young in its first part, the present book reveals the contribution of ethnic and social capital to educational outcomes, and the role of national and European policies in the transition from school to work, the duration of unemployment and the minimum income dependency of Europe's youth. The second part of the book focuses on the elderly and discusses intersections with gender and ethnicity in old-age poverty, pension outcomes of mobile (cross-border) workers, the impact of the recent social security reforms and the possible outcomes of including financial assets and housing wealth in old-age income protection. The final chapters address the potential erosion of the solidarity towards the young and the elderly as a challenge for the European welfare states.'Empirical research, as it is presented in this book's contributions, can add much to our understanding of how this social contract, and by extension also others, like the social contracts between the active and inactive, the healthy and the sick, and the rich and the poor, can be sustained, economically, politically, as well as socially.Wim van Oorschot, Professor of Social Policy at KU Leuven and Honorary President of ESPAnet