The introductory chapter set out the research objectives underpinning the research on which this book is based. The retirement migration research together with a series of ‘linked’ studies of subgroups of intra-Community migrants represents a commitment to the evaluation of the development of Citizenship of the Union. More specifically, by focusing on Community nationals, we have sought to critique the presumption of universalism implied in the concept that all Community nationals share an equivalent status and experience. While other authors have referred to the ways in which Citizenship of the Union has created new forms of stratification (Kleinman, 2002), the level, complexity and justification for status differentiation within the population of European citizens has rarely been dealt with in any detail and in an empirical context.

The focus of this book has been on the status and experiences of retirement migrants within the European Union. As we have seen, this population does not represent a homogeneous group. From a legal point of view, it comprises a number of subgroups, which can be distinguished on the basis of their formal status. The movement of retired people thus provides an interesting and relevant case study for the examination of status differentiation. On the one hand it reveals important distinctions based on the quality and geography of legally significant forms of contribution. So contributing in the home state during ones working life and then migrating on retirement has different implications to moving during working life and then retiring in situ. Subsequent return also has legal implications. Furthermore, for those persons (mainly women) who have either taken time out of the labour market to care for families prior to moving or whose labour market participation has been disrupted as a consequence of their partner's employment, mobility may give rise to a less advantageous, derived status. Accompanying partners and family who fall outside Community definitions of family or dependency may be further disadvantaged. The evolution of family relationships, economic roles and migration trajectories over the life course thus shapes the legal entitlement of retired migrants. That entitlement translates into a differential ability to ‘plug’ into domestic welfare systems and claim social resources. These categories bear no relation to demonstrable need, but rather reflect the incremental way in which social citizenship rights have evolved, tracing and teasing away at the parameters of Community competence.