Supranational undertakings and the determination of social rights

This article examines the problem of the determination of social rights at the supranational level in the EU. It considers the extent to which social rights transcend national borders within the EU and are detached from national citizenship. It compares the experience of EU citizens and non-EU citizens at both the national and EU levels through the study of political and institutional impediments to the expansion of social rights for non-EU citizens at the supranational level. Nationality is the critical determinant concerning access to social rights in the EU, but the extension of supranational rights in the EU remains for the most part limited only to EU citizens, thereby denying access to social rights to most third-country nationals residing legally in EU member states.