Normalising welfare boundaries : A feminist analysis of Swedish municipalities' handling of vulnerable EU citizens

The so-called freedom of movement granted to EU citizens has made it easier for economically deprived EU citizens to seek their livelihood beyond the borders of their homelands and this has created one of our time’s most socially excluded groups. In Sweden, over the recent years they have come to be known as vulnerable EU citizens. This article analyses what happens when there are no unified regulations as to how Swedish municipalities should prevent social exclusion among those who are not Swedish citizens. Our purpose is to study how officials and politicians normalize certain beliefs with regard to the (im)possibility of providing support to socially-excluded EU citizens residing in their municipalities. The material used in the study is interviews with officials and politicians in Västernorrland, a region of northern Sweden. The study shows that in the absence of common guidelines the normalization of Swedish citizenship has taken place as the basis of the rights to welfare. It is Swedish citizenship that provides you with access to the community; at the same time, it is this community which must be guarded. Prohibition of EU citizens is commonly legitimized by a concern for the municipality’s citizens as if the closing down of the settlements makes social exclusion seize to exist or at least seize to be a problem for the municipalities. This narrative illustrates that it is the settlements and their flaws, rather than the inhabitants’ social exclusion in a broader context that are perceived as problematic