International legal regulations of labour migration in the Eurasian region: A Tentative Attempt at Approximating the EU’s Free Movement of Workers?

Abstract

Rustem Davletgildeev – Doctor of Law, Docent, Academic Coordinator of the Jean Monnet Center of Excellence in European Studies VOICES+, Deputy Dean of the Law Faculty, Kazan Federal University, Kazan, Russian Federation. Email: roustem.davletguildeev@kpfu.ru

The international legal regulation of labour migration within the framework of regional integration in the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union is characterized by significant uniqueness and differs from the universal models that have developed within the UN, the ILO and others. This article compares the terms used in the EAEU Treaty with the term 'worker', developed within the framework of the practice of the European Court of Justice, and formulates separate proposals for the integration institutions of the EAEU to incorporate the experience of EU law in ensuring the free movement of workers. As a result of the study, the following conclusions were made. Despite the influence of the legal experience of the European Union on the emerging legal system of the CIS, the implementation of the relevant treaty provisions differs significantly from the legal model of free movement in EU law. It seems that for the purposes of developing economic integration and ensuring a single labour market in the EAEU, it would be useful to use a broad understanding of the term ‘Worker of a Member State’ and, thus, benefit from the EU experience of prohibiting labour activities for irregular migrant workers. The EAEU Treaty could also be effectively supplemented with discrimination prohibitions for workers of the member states on the
basis of nationality, as well as provisions to the Treaty on the EAEU on the legal regulation of labour migration for third-country nationals. The desired integration model within the EAEU would be even more effective if it incorporated the best experience gained in other regional integrations with more experience, such as the EU.