Social benefits and cross-border mobility Sticking to principles may yield better practical results for everybody

Issues that are relatively unimportant in quantitative terms often weigh heavily in the political debate. The political capital invested in the question of social benefits paid to non-nationals in EU Member States, notably by the British government, is a salient example of this paradox. However, principles can be important in politics. In this note, I link this issue with the longstanding debate on posting of workers in the EU. These two debates have been separated. I argue that EU Member States should approach these two debaters from a single, principled perspective. The argument is not about principles for the sake of principles: sticking to consistent principles may ultimately yield better results for everybody.