Freedom of Movement of Workers within the European Union - a fiscal approach

Sammanfattning: The Membership of the European Union, brings along guidelines for national tax provisions, securing the freedoms of movement which exists within the European Community. It is above all the four fundamental freedoms of the EC Treaty, the freedom of movement of goods, service, capital and labour which aim to secure removal of obstacles and safeguard the free movement within the inner market of the Community. Having a fiscal approach I first of all intended to investigate the freedom of movement of workers within the EU. This means, analysing case law where tax provisions have breached the Treaty laws of freedom of movement, to see to what extent this freedoms apply. Along the road I came across another angle which has not been so frequently debated, namely the fiscal approach from the Member States' point of view, not the individuals. This led me to taking into consideration ''the flip side of the fiscal coin of freedom''. Seemingly the freedom to move have developed further, with the creation of new Treaty articles which expands the right to freely move and reside, on the basis of being a Union Citizen. The concept of free movement of persons has evolved to also be relevant in a concept of Union Citizenship, which has taken over the role of securing the freedoms for the individual in the EC. The question is however, if this could lead to an unreasonable economic burden for the Member States? The obligations of the Member States towards the Treaty are also discussed, as well as some trends in the Swedish legal practice in the taxation area, which respectively are linked to Sweden's obligations as a Member State in the European Union.