"EU citizens and Third Country Nationals are formally in very different situations when it comes to their mobility and rights in the European Union. However, this binary picture looks much more blurred when workers from Southeast Europe are in focus. The newest, poorest members of the European Union and their neighbouring accession countries in the Western Balkans are not only experiencing a demographic decline, youth exodus and a ‘brain drain', but also effectively subsidising the economic growth and lifestyle of richer European countries through investment in education and training of workers who leave their countries of origin, and the subsequent loss of social security contributions. The report pays particular attention to the situation of mobile workers from the region in Germany, given its economic size and recent visa liberalisation, but also brings in examples and considerations from throughout the EU."

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