FREE MOVEMENT 'A BENEFIT FOR EUROPE' - REDING.

• Position: Viviane Reding - Brief article

"Free movement is a benefit for Europe." It was with these words that Commissioner Viviane Reding began her comments on the findings of a study, published on 11 February, on the impact at the local level of the right of free movement in the EU. The study focused on six European cities, chosen for the multinational composition of their population: Barcelona, Dublin, Hamburg, Lille, Prague and Turin. It shows that this influx of younger, working age EU citizens has had a positive economic impact in all six cities. In Turin, for example, a local evaulation shows that tax revenues from foreigners on the whole brought a net benefit of 1.5 billion to national public finances (see Annex 3). The study also reveals that newcomers have helped fill gaps in local...