| Four Freedoms (european Union) |
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In European Union Law , the Four Freedoms (sometimes the '''Four Liberties''') are the free movement of Goods , Service s, Capital , and Labour within the Internal Market of the European Union . More precisely, they are:
These four freedoms form part of the of the Economic Liberalism and/or Neoliberalism . In practice, the freedoms are not protected equally. For example, the freedom of establishment is not as unrestricted as those of goods and services. Important new legislation, such as the 2004/38 Dırective on Citizenship, improves further the poistion of persons. Restrictions exist for citizens of the 10 new Member States after the 2004 Enlargement Of The European Union ). The Directive On Services In The Internal Market aims to remedy some of these problems. Critics from a (hardline) neoliberal point of view see these as transitory measures and aim to abolish these restrictions on the freedom (at least in the declared programme). A defence against this accusation is that "free movement of labour (and services)" (as an abstract concept in Economics ) is not necessarily equivalent to the Human Right called " Freedom Of Movement ", a Right to Residency in another member state, a right to establish a Business in another country, or a right to make a claim for the freedom to cross a border. For example, using Telecommunications technology, it is possible to " Offshore " some Customer Service jobs without granting the freedom of movement to the employees (or Subcontract ing persons) providing the labour and services; this still achieves the goal of free movement of labour and services for this limited sector. Those from a Left-wing point of view (such as Bernard Cassen , Susan Watkins , Caroline Lucas , Mike Woodin , and Daniel Cohn-Bendit ) point out the underlying neoliberal ideological value in elevating these "freedoms" and the principle of Competition (as proposed in Part III of the Treaty Establishing A Constitution For Europe ) onto the same level as Human Rights (as enumerated in the Charter Of Fundamental Rights Of The European Union , integrated as Part II of the proposed constitution). (See New Left Review II/33 and ''Green Alternatives to Globalisation'' by Woodin and Lucas.) EXTERNAL LINK |
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