Doesn't North America have NAFTA without free movement of people between US, Canada and Mexico?
My understanding (from wikipedia) is that it is restricted under the TN status visa scheme:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TN_status
The EU seems to have an ideological attachment to free movement of people. The EU is not a free market, it is a customs union.
It would be a lot easier to expand the EU further if there could be associate membership for UK, Turkey etc so that there could be free movement of goods but not labour.
This is currently also a bone of contention in relation to Switzerland's future in the single market (they are not an EU member).
I think the EU is in a bad situation where it seems to think it needs to make the EU a prison by hurting any country that wishes to exit.
The solution to the concerns of new EU members is that their domestic economic situation needs improvement.
Relying on emigration as a release valve on a society is not going to lead to a flourishing society (e.g. Ireland in the 1950s or 1980s).
Is it in anyone's interest (the EU, the UK or the countries themselves) if Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia become nothing more than sources of labour for the rest?
What will these countries look like in a generation's time if their best and brightest see no future in their own countries?