Free to move, reluctant to share: Unequal opposition to transnational rights under the EU’s free movement principle

Free movement is simultaneously widely acclaimed and strongly contested in the European Union (EU). To address this apparent contradiction, we unpack European Union freedom of movement into its different transnational rights and argue that opposition is unequal across entitlements. Using evidence from a unique survey, we show that citizens mainly contest welfare access. This transnational right implies costs for the host country and taps into perceptions of belonging and deservingness. Due to its association with ideas of national community and solidarity, access to welfare is more contested even among those who, in principle, should be favourable to such entitlements: European identifiers and European Union supporters. Our findings underscore the challenge of creating a sense of European Union community that could underpin all transnational rights implied by the principle of freedom of movement.