Johanna is an interdisciplinary social scientist and a research advisor to the director at the Institut für Europäische Politik (IEP), where she is involved in the preparation of funding applications, the conceptual design and implementation of projects as well as participation in the strategic expansion of the research areas. She has an academic background in European Studies (B.A.), Migration Studies (M.A.), and Political Science (PhD). In her dissertation, she explored how narratives of peoplehood change in a context of migration and Europeanisation. Previously, Johanna also worked at the Berlin Social Science Center and completed a traineeship at the European Commission.

Policy Project: Phasing into the freedom of movement in an enlarging European Union

The momentum for enlarging the European Union is the highest it has been in years. If the EU accepts new Member States, millions of people will eventually gain the rights attached to EU citizenship, including the right to free movement. In the ‘big bang’ enlargement twenty years ago, this right was restricted for up to seven years after accession with transitional arrangements that strongly differed between member states. Currently, models of staged and gradual accession gain popularity among academics and policymakers. In these models, benefits of EU membership – such as access to the single market including some or all of the four freedoms – would be extended before accession. The policy project seeks to investigate the place of the freedom of movement within these models and explore the theoretical and practical implications of phasing into the freedom of movement before rather than after accession.