Abstract
Under the European Union law, the framework governing the situation of third-country nationals depends on their status: highly qualified worker, family member of a European Union citizen, student, researcher, refugee, long-term resident, asylum seeker or illegal immigrant, etc. Furthermore, these protection regimes are also influenced by international, bilateral, European, community and national standards. We are thus noticing, within the EU, the creation of several “mini-bases” of protection for third-country nationals, and this fragmentation of protections tends to make equality a relative principle.It is therefore desirable to identify a single mechanism for establishing a minimum common base of protection. Although this is a complex exercise, it allows us to highlight the values of equality, social justice and human dignity which underpin the European Union. The implementation of this minimum common base also makes recognize toward third-country nationals, including those in an irregular situation, an incompressible economic and social rights. In a Union increasingly confronted with economic and health crises, the minimum common base must ultimately mark the renewal of the construction of a social Europe through unexplored or insufficiently mobilized means so that this construction can also be inclusive of all third-country nationals.