I could understand it, and indeed support it, if they were saying it's not enough that free movement extends to EU citizens, it should be something open to all citizens, but they're not doing that. I was talking to a population guy from Harvard t'other week, and in much of the western world, the challenge is largely one of depopulation. I don't think a single developed country has a birth rate high enough to maintain its population naturally, and when you look at a local level, a lot of the problem with small towns is that people are leaving them to find opportunities elsewhere.
This marks a big shift, as in the 1970s it was the opposite, as cities were seen as a bit crappy, and people flooded out of them to the towns and rural areas, but now the reverse is happening, which is resulting in rural communities becoming increasingly depopulated, with generally older people remaining. Fewer people means fewer amenities, and general decline. The ironic thing is, for many of these communities, having an influx of migrants could actually help, but those communities rejected the migrants instead because, presumably, they weren't indigenous enough.
