Post-enlargement (free) movement in the EU: who really counts as EU CITIZEN? understanding Dano through the lens of Orientalism

In this paper, we deploy a critical framework based on Edward Said’s concept of Orientalism to offer novel insights into the 2014 judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Elisabeta Dano, Florian Dano v Jobcenter Leipzig (Dano). The potency of seeing the Dano case through an Orientalist lens lies with its ability to unearth and unpack the (internal) othering processes that run through the Court’s narrative and shape its ruling - processes that persist to this day. Our novel and distinctive engagement with the Dano judgment notably shows that the othering of ‘poor’ economically inactive mobile EU citizens is enmeshed in ‘Western’ Europe’s construction of ‘Eastern’ Europe. Adopting an Orientalist perspective allows us to recognise the existence of ‘internal others’ within the EU and acknowledge that EU citizenship as a (more) inclusive experience for all Member State nationals has not (yet) materialised. Critically, this approach shows that the EU will not be able to move towards greater inclusiveness in the practice of EU citizenship unless and until its ‘internal others’ become visible and their othering is understood.