European Union citizenship is afforded to all citizens of
member states of the European Union (EU). It was formally created with the adoption of the 1992
Maastricht Treaty
The Treaty on European Union, commonly known as the Maastricht Treaty, is the foundation treaty of the European Union (EU). Concluded in 1992 between the then-twelve member states of the European Communities, it announced "a new stage in the ...
, at the same time as the creation of the EU. EU citizenship is additional to, as it does not replace, national citizenship.
It affords EU citizens with rights, freedoms and legal protections available under
EU law
European Union law is a system of rules operating within the member states of the European Union (EU). Since the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community following World War II, the EU has developed the aim to "promote peace, its val ...
.
EU citizens have
freedom of movement
Freedom of movement, mobility rights, or the right to travel is a human rights concept encompassing the right of individuals to travel from place to place within the territory of a country,Jérémiee Gilbert, ''Nomadic Peoples and Human Rights' ...
, and the freedom of settlement and
employment across the EU. They are free to trade and transport goods, services and capital through EU state borders, with no restrictions on capital movements or fees. EU citizens have the right to vote and run as a candidate in certain (often local) elections in the member state where they live that is not their state of origin, while also voting for
EU elections and participating in a
European Citizens' Initiative
The European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) is a European Union (EU) mechanism aimed at increasing direct democracy by enabling "EU citizens to participate directly in the development of EU policies", introduced with the Treaty of Lisbon in 2007. The ...
(ECI).
Citizenship of the EU confers the right to consular protection by embassies of other EU member states when an individual's country of citizenship is not represented by an embassy or consulate in the foreign country in which they require protection or other types of assistance. EU citizens have the right to address the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
, the
European Ombudsman
The European Ombudsman is an inter-institutional body of the European Union that holds the institutions, bodies and agencies of the EU to account, and promotes good administration. The Ombudsman helps people, businesses and organisations facing ...
and
EU agencies directly, in any of the
EU Treaty
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
languages
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...
, provided the issue raised is within that institution's competence.
EU citizens have the legal protections of EU law, including the
Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU
The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFR) enshrines certain political, social, and economic rights for European Union (EU) citizens and residents into EU law. It was drafted by the European Convention and solemnly proclai ...
and acts and directives regarding protection of personal data, rights of victims of crime, preventing and combating trafficking in human beings, equal pay, as well as protection from discrimination in employment on grounds of religion or belief, sexual orientation and age.
The office of the European Ombudsman can be directly approached by EU citizens.
History
"The introduction of a European form of citizenship with precisely defined rights and duties was considered as long ago as the 1960s", but the roots of "the key rights of EU citizenship—primarily the right to live and the right to work anywhere within the territory of the Member States—can be traced back to the free movement provisions contained in the Treaty of Paris establishing the European Coal and Steel Community, which entered into force in 1952.
" The citizenship of the European Union was first introduced by the
Maastricht Treaty
The Treaty on European Union, commonly known as the Maastricht Treaty, is the foundation treaty of the European Union (EU). Concluded in 1992 between the then-twelve member states of the European Communities, it announced "a new stage in the ...
, and was extended by the
Treaty of Amsterdam
The Treaty of Amsterdam, officially the Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty on European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related acts, was signed on 2 October 1997, and entered into force on 1 May 1999; i ...
. Prior to the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, the
European Communities
The European Communities (EC) were three international organizations that were governed by the same set of institutions. These were the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), and the ...
treaties provided guarantees for the free movement of economically active People, but not, generally, for others. The 1951
Treaty of Paris Treaty of Paris may refer to one of many treaties signed in Paris, France:
Treaties
1200s and 1300s
* Treaty of Paris (1229), which ended the Albigensian Crusade
* Treaty of Paris (1259), between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France
* Trea ...
establishing the
European Coal and Steel Community
The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was a European organization created after World War II to regulate the coal and steel industries. It was formally established in 1951 by the Treaty of Paris, signed by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembo ...
established a right to free movement for workers in these industries and the 1957
Treaty of Rome
The Treaty of Rome, or EEC Treaty (officially the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community), brought about the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC), the best known of the European Communities (EC). The treaty was sig ...
provided for the free movement of workers and services. However, we can find traces of an emerging European personal status in the legal framework regulating the rights and obligations of foreign residents in Europe well before a formal status of European citizenship was introduced. In particular through the interplay between secondary European legislation and the case-law of the European Court of Justice. This formed an embryo of the future European Citizenship,
and came to be defined by the practice of freedom of movement of workers within the newly-established European Economic Community.
The rights of an "embryonic"
European citizenship have been developed by the
European Court of Justice
The European Court of Justice (ECJ, french: Cour de Justice européenne), formally just the Court of Justice, is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Un ...
well before the formal institution of European citizenship by the Maastricht Treaty. This could happen after the two landmark decisions in the cases
Van Gend en Loos
Van Gend & Loos was a Dutch distribution company. It was established in 1809, and was purchased by DHL in 2003.
History
Van Gend & Loos was established by the Antwerp-based innkeeper and carriage driver Jan-Baptist van Gend. He had marrie ...
and
Costa/ENEL, which established (a) the principle of direct effect of EEC law, and (b) the supremacy of European law over national law, including the constitutional one. In particular, the 1957 Rome Treaty
provisions were interpreted by the European Court of Justice not as having a narrow economic purpose, but rather a wider social and economic one.
The rights associated with the European Personal Status were firstly recognized “to certain categories of workers, then expanded to all workers, to certain categories of non-workers (e.g. retirees, students), and finally perhaps to all citizens”.
In line with the model of
social citizenship Social citizenship was a term first coined by T. H. Marshall, who argued that the ideal citizenship experience entails access to political, civil and social rights in a state.Rummery, Kirstein. (2002). "Disability, Citizenship and Community Ca ...
proposed by
Thomas Humphrey Marshall
Thomas Humphrey Marshall (1893–1981) was an English sociologist who is best known for his essay " Citizenship and Social Class," a key work on citizenship that introduced the idea that full citizenship includes civil, political, and social ci ...
, the “European Personal Status” or “Proto-European citizenship”
was built by recognizing the social rights connected to freedom of movement
and freedom of establishment in the first years of the EEC, when workers’ rights in the host state were progressively extended to their family members even beyond the status of "worker", so as to promote the full social integration of the workers and their families in the host member state.
When Regulation 1612/68 abolished movement and residence restrictions for member state workers and their families in the entire EEC territory, thus ending the transitional period established by article 49 of the Rome Treaty, not only this created the conditions for a full exercise of free movement rights, but a number of important new rights were subsequently recognized by the ECJ, such as: the right to a minimum wage in the host state, the reduction of fares on public transport for large families, the right to a check for disabled adults, interest-free loans for the birth of children, the right to reside with a non-spousal partner, the payment of funeral expenses.
As later stated in Levin,
[Case 53/81](_blank)
''D.M. Levin v Staatssecretaris van Justitie''. the Court found that the "freedom to take up employment was important, not just as a means towards the creation of a single market for the benefit of the member state economies, but as a right for the worker to raise her or his standard of living".
Under the
ECJ
The European Court of Justice (ECJ, french: Cour de Justice européenne), formally just the Court of Justice, is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Unio ...
case-law, the rights of free movement of workers applies regardless of the worker's purpose in taking up employment abroad,
to both part-time and full-time work,
and whether or not the worker required additional financial assistance from the member state into which he moves.
[Case 139/85](_blank)
''R. H. Kempf v Staatssecretaris van Justitie''.
Before the institution of the European citizenship the ECJ interpreted the status of "worker" it beyond its purely literal meaning, progressively extending it to subjects such as non-economically active family members, students, tourists. This led the Court to hold that a mere recipient of services has free movement rights under the Treaty,
[Joined cases 286/82 and 26/83](_blank)
''Graziana Luisi and Giuseppe Carbone v Ministero del Tesoro''. so that almost every national of an EU country moving to another member state as a recipient of services, whether economically active or not, but provided they do not constitute an unreasonable burden for the host state, shall non be granted equality of treatment
[Case 186/87](_blank)
''Ian William Cowan v Trésor public''. had a right to non-discrimination on the ground of nationality even prior to the Maastricht Treaty.
[Advocate General Jacobs' Opinion](_blank)
in Case C-274/96 ''Criminal proceedings against Horst Otto Bickel and Ulrich Franz'' at paragraph 9
The Maastrich Treaty dispositions on the status of European citizenship (having direct effect, i.e. directly conferring the status of European citizen to all member states nationals) were not immediately applied by the Court, which continued following the previous interpretative approach and employed European citizenship as a supplementary argument in order to confirm and consolidate precedent law. It was only a few years after the entry into force of the Treaty of Maastricht that the Court finally decided to abandon this approach and to recognize the status of European citizen in order to decide the controversies. Two landmark decisions in this sense are ''Martinez Sala'',
[Case C-85/96](_blank)
''María Martínez Sala v Freistaat Bayern''. and ''Grelczyk''.
On the one hand citizenship has an inclusive character, as it allows its holders freedoms and encourages and enables active participation and active use of these rights. On the other hand, and the following is not meant to diminish this first fact, the inclusion of a certain group results in the differentiation of others. Only through active differentiation and demarcation, i.e. exclusion, an identity with formal criteria can be created.
Due to the history of the EU and its mentioned development, the progress of including and excluding is inevitably full of tensions. Many dynamics in citizenship grounded in the tension between the formal law part and the non-/beyond-law surrounding; such as the enlargement of freedom and rights to every kind of explicitly or implicitly economically active persons. Homeless and poor people do not enjoy these freedoms, because of a lack of economic action. The situation is the same when the home state says someone might no longer enjoy these rights.
Economically inactive EU citizens who want to stay longer than three months in another Member State have to fulfill the condition of having health insurance and “sufficient resources” in order not to become an “unreasonable burden” for the social assistance system of the host Member State, which otherwise can legitimately expel them.
Stated rights
The rights of EU Citizens are enumerated in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Historically, the main benefit of being a citizen of an EU state has been that of free movement. The free movement also applies to the citizens of
European Economic Area
The European Economic Area (EEA) was established via the ''Agreement on the European Economic Area'', an international agreement which enables the extension of the European Union's single market to member states of the European Free Trade Ass ...
countries and Switzerland. However, with the creation of EU citizenship, certain political rights came into being.
The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union
The adoption of the
Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union
The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFR) enshrines certain political, social, and economic rights for European Union (EU) citizens and residents into EU law. It was drafted by the European Convention and solemnly proclaim ...
(CFR) enshrined specific political, social, and economic rights for EU citizens and residents. Title Five of the CFR focuses specifically on the rights of EU Citizens. Protected rights of EU citizens include the following:
* The right to vote and to stand as a candidate at elections to the European Parliament.
* The right to vote and to stand as a candidate at municipal elections.
* The right to good administration.
* The right of access to documents.
* The right to petition.
* Freedom of movement and of residence.
* Diplomatic and consular protection.
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
The
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) is one of two treaties forming the Treaties of the European Union, constitutional basis of the European Union (EU), the other being the Treaty on European Union (TEU). It was previously ...
provides for citizens to be "directly represented at Union level in the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
" and "to participate in the democratic life of the Union" (
Treaty on the European Union, Title II, Article 10). Specifically, the following rights are afforded:
* Accessing European government documents: a right to access to documents of the EU government, whatever their medium. (Article 15).
*Freedom from any discrimination on nationality: a right not to be discriminated against on grounds of nationality within the scope of application of the Treaty (Article 18);
*Right to not be discriminated against: The EU government may take appropriate action to combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation (Article 19);
*Right to free movement and residence: a right of
free movement and residence throughout the Union and the right to work in any position (including national civil services with the exception of those posts in the public sector that involve the exercise of powers conferred by public law and the safeguard of general interests of the State or local authorities (Article 21) for which however there is no one single definition);
*Voting in European elections: a
right to vote
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...
and
stand
Stand or The Stand may refer to:
* To assume the upright position of standing
* Forest stand, a group of trees
* Area of seating in a stadium, such as bleachers
* Stand (cricket), a relationship between two players
* Stand (drill pipe), 2 or 3 ...
in
elections to the European Parliament
Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's.
Until ...
, in any
EU member state (Article 22)
* Voting and running in municipal elections: a right to vote and stand in
local election
In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...
s in an EU state other than their own, under the same conditions as the nationals of that state (Article 22)
* Right to consular protection: a right to protection by the diplomatic or consular authorities of other Member States when in a non-EU Member State, if there are no diplomatic or consular authorities from the citizen's own state (Article 23)
**This is due to the fact that not all member states maintain embassies in every country in the world (some countries have only one embassy from an EU state).
* Petitioning Parliament and the Ombudsman: the right to petition the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
and the right to apply to the
European Ombudsman
The European Ombudsman is an inter-institutional body of the European Union that holds the institutions, bodies and agencies of the EU to account, and promotes good administration. The Ombudsman helps people, businesses and organisations facing ...
to bring to his attention any cases of poor administration by the
EU institutions
The institutions of the European Union are the seven principal decision-making bodies of the European Union and the Euratom. They are, as listed in Article 13 of the Treaty on European Union:
* the European Parliament,
* the European Council ...
and bodies, with the exception of the legal bodies (Article 24)
* Language rights: the right to apply to the
EU institutions
The institutions of the European Union are the seven principal decision-making bodies of the European Union and the Euratom. They are, as listed in Article 13 of the Treaty on European Union:
* the European Parliament,
* the European Council ...
in one of the
official languages
An official language is a language given supreme status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically the term "official language" does not refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government (e.g. judiciary, ...
and to receive a reply in that same language (Article 24)
Free movement rights
;Article 21 Freedom to move and reside
Article 21 (1) of the
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) is one of two treaties forming the Treaties of the European Union, constitutional basis of the European Union (EU), the other being the Treaty on European Union (TEU). It was previously ...
states that
Every citizen of the Union shall have the right to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States, subject to the limitations and conditions laid down in this Treaty and by the measures adopted to give it effect.
The
European Court of Justice
The European Court of Justice (ECJ, french: Cour de Justice européenne), formally just the Court of Justice, is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Un ...
has remarked that,
EU Citizenship is destined to be the fundamental status of nationals of the Member States[Case C-184/99](_blank)
''Rudy Grzelczyk v Centre public d'aide sociale d'Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve'' .
The ECJ has held that this Article confers a
directly effective right upon citizens to reside in another Member State.
[Case C-413/99](_blank)
''Baumbast and R v Secretary of State for the Home Department'', para. 5 1 Before the case of ''Baumbast'',
it was widely assumed that non-economically active citizens had no rights to residence deriving directly from the EU Treaty, only from directives created under the Treaty. In ''Baumbast'', however, the ECJ held that (the then) Article 18 of the EC Treaty granted a generally applicable right to residency, which is limited by secondary legislation, but ''only'' where that secondary legislation is proportionate.
[Durham European Law Institute, European Law Lecture 2005](_blank)
, p. 5. Member States can distinguish between nationals and Union citizens but only if the provisions satisfy the test of proportionality.
Migrant EU citizens have a "legitimate expectation of a limited degree of financial solidarity... having regard to their degree of integration into the host society" Length of time is a particularly important factor when considering the degree of integration.
The ECJ's case law on citizenship has been criticised for subjecting an increasing number of national rules to the proportionality assessment.
;Article 45 Freedom of movement to work
Article 45 of the
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) is one of two treaties forming the Treaties of the European Union, constitutional basis of the European Union (EU), the other being the Treaty on European Union (TEU). It was previously ...
states that
State employment reserved exclusively for nationals varies between member states. For example, training as a barrister in Britain and Ireland is not reserved for nationals, while the corresponding French course qualifies one as a 'juge' and hence can only be taken by French citizens. However, it is broadly limited to those roles that exercise a significant degree of public authority, such as judges, police, the military, diplomats, senior civil servants or politicians. Note that not all Member States choose to restrict all of these posts to nationals.
Much of the existing secondary legislation and case law was consolidated
in the Citizens' Rights
Directive 2004/38/EC on the right to move and reside freely
The Citizens’ Rights Directive 2004/38/EC (also sometimes called the "Free Movement Directive") defines the right of free movement for citizens of the European Economic Area (EEA), which includes the member states of the European Union (EU) a ...
within the EU.
;Limitations
New member states may undergo transitional regimes for
Freedom of movement for workers
The freedom of movement for workers is a policy chapter of the acquis communautaire of the European Union. The free movement of workers means that nationals of any member state of the European Union can take up an employment in another member stat ...
, during which their nationals only enjoy restricted access to labour markets in other member states. EU member states are permitted to keep restrictions on citizens of the newly acceded countries for a maximum of seven years after accession. For the
EFTA
The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is a regional trade organization and free trade area consisting of four European states: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. The organization operates in parallel with the European Uni ...
states (Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway and Switzerland), the maximum is nine years.
Following the
2004 enlargement, three "old" member states—Ireland, Sweden and the United Kingdom—decided to allow unrestricted access to their labour markets. By December 2009, all but two member states—
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
and Germany—had completely dropped controls. These restrictions too expired on 1 May 2011.
Following the
2007 enlargement, all pre-2004 member states except
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
and Sweden imposed restrictions on Bulgarian and Romanian citizens, as did two member states that joined in 2004:
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
and
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
. As of November 2012, all but 8 EU countries have dropped restrictions entirely. These restrictions too expired on 1 January 2014. Norway opened its labour market in June 2012, while Switzerland kept restrictions in place until 2016.
Following the
2013 enlargement, some countries implemented restrictions on Croatian nationals following the country's EU accession on 1 July 2013. As of March 2021, all EU countries have dropped restrictions entirely.
Acquisition
There is no common EU policy on the acquisition of European citizenship as it is supplementary to national citizenship. (EC citizenship was initially granted to all citizens of European Community member states in 1994 by the Maastricht treaty concluded between the member states of the European community under international law, this changed into citizenship of the European Union in 2007 when the European Community changed its legal identity to be the European Union. Many more people became EU citizens when each new EU member state was added and, at each point, all the existing member states ratified the adjustments to the treaties to allow the creation of those extra citizenship rights for the individual. European citizenship is also generally granted at the same time as national citizenship is granted).
Article 20 (1) of the
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) is one of two treaties forming the Treaties of the European Union, constitutional basis of the European Union (EU), the other being the Treaty on European Union (TEU). It was previously ...
[Treaty on the Function of the European Union](_blank)
(consolidated version) states that:
"Citizenship of the Union is hereby established. Every person holding the nationality of a Member State shall be a citizen of the Union. Citizenship of the Union shall be additional to and not replace national citizenship."
While nationals of Member States are citizens of the union, "It is for each Member State, having due regard to Union law, to lay down the conditions for the acquisition and loss of nationality." As a result, there is a great variety in rules and practices with regard to the acquisition and loss of citizenship in EU member states.
Exceptions for overseas territories
In practice this means that a member state may withhold EU citizenship from certain groups of citizens, most commonly in
overseas territories of member states outside the EU.
A previous example, was for the United Kingdom. Owing to the complexity of
British nationality law
British nationality law prescribes the conditions under which a person is recognised as being a national of the United Kingdom. The six different classes of British nationality each have varying degrees of civil and political rights, due to the ...
, a 1982 declaration by Her Majesty's Government defined who would be deemed to be a British "national" for European Union purposes:
*
British citizen
British nationality law prescribes the conditions under which a person is recognised as being a national of the United Kingdom. The six different classes of British nationality each have varying degrees of civil and political rights, due to the ...
s, as defined by Part I of the
British Nationality Act 1981
The British Nationality Act 1981 (c.61) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning British nationality since 1 January 1983.
History
In the mid-1970s the British Government decided to update the nationality code, which had b ...
.
*
British subject
The term "British subject" has several different meanings depending on the time period. Before 1949, it referred to almost all subjects of the British Empire (including the United Kingdom, Dominions, and colonies, but excluding protectorates ...
s, within the meaning of Part IV of the
British Nationality Act 1981
The British Nationality Act 1981 (c.61) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning British nationality since 1 January 1983.
History
In the mid-1970s the British Government decided to update the nationality code, which had b ...
, but only if they also possessed the 'right of abode' under British immigration law.
*
British overseas territories citizen
A British Overseas Territories citizen (BOTC), formerly called British Dependent Territories citizen (BDTC), is a member of a class of British nationality granted to people connected with one or more of the British Overseas Territories (previo ...
s who derived their citizenship by a connection to
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
.
This declaration therefore excluded from EU citizenship various historic categories of British citizenship generally associated with former British colonies, such as
British Overseas Citizen
A British Overseas citizen (BOC) is a holder of a residual class of British nationality, largely held by people connected with former British colonies who do not have close ties to the United Kingdom or its remaining overseas territories. In ...
s,
British Nationals (Overseas)
British National (Overseas), abbreviated BN(O), is a class of British nationality associated with the former colony of Hong Kong. The status was acquired through voluntary registration by individuals with a connection to the territory who ha ...
,
British protected person
A British protected person (BPP) is a member of a class of British nationality associated with former protectorates, protected states, and territorial mandates and trusts under British control. Individuals with this nationality are British na ...
s and any
British subject
The term "British subject" has several different meanings depending on the time period. Before 1949, it referred to almost all subjects of the British Empire (including the United Kingdom, Dominions, and colonies, but excluding protectorates ...
who did not have the 'right of abode' under British immigration law.
In 2002, with the passing of the
British Overseas Territories Act 2002
The British Overseas Territories Act 2002 (c.8) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which superseded parts of the British Nationality Act 1981. It makes legal provision for the renaming of the ''British Dependent Territories'' as ...
, EU citizenship was extended to almost all British overseas territories citizens when they were automatically granted full British citizenship (with the exception of those with an association to the British sovereign base areas of
Akrotiri and Dhekelia
Akrotiri and Dhekelia, officially the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (SBA),, ''Periochés Kyríarchon Váseon Akrotiríou ke Dekélias''; tr, Ağrotur ve Dikelya İngiliz Egemen Üs Bölgeleri is a British Overseas Territory o ...
on the Island of Cyprus). This had effectively granted them full EU citizenship rights, including free movement rights, although only residents of
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
had the right to vote in European Parliament elections. In contrast,
British citizens
British nationality law prescribes the conditions under which a person is recognised as being a national of the United Kingdom. The six different classes of British nationality each have varying degrees of civil and political rights, due to the ...
in the
Crown Dependencies of
Jersey
Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...
,
Guernsey
Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency.
It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...
and the
Isle of Man
)
, anthem = "O Land of Our Birth"
, image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg
, image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg
, mapsize =
, map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe
, map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green)
in Europe ...
had always been considered to be EU citizens but, unlike residents of the
British overseas territories
The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remna ...
, were prohibited from exercising EU free movement rights under the terms of the British Accession Treaty if they had no other connection with the UK (e.g. they had lived in the UK for five years, were born in the UK, or had parents or grandparents born in the UK) and had no EU voting rights. (see
Guernsey passport
The Guernsey passport is a British passport issued by the Passport Office of the Customs and Immigration Department in St Peter Port to British citizens.
Eligibility
The Guernsey Customs and Immigration Department issues British passports to Br ...
,
Isle of Man passport
The Isle of Man passport is a British passport issued by the Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man, one of the Crown Dependencies associated with the United Kingdom, on behalf of the British sovereign under the Royal Prerogative, at the reques ...
,
Jersey passport
The Jersey-variant British passport is a type of British passport issued in the British Crown dependency of Jersey by the Passport Office in St Helier.
Jersey-variant British passports are full British passports and are simply an alternative ...
).
Another example are the residents of
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.
They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...
of Denmark who, though in possession of full Danish citizenship, are outside the EU and are explicitly excluded from EU citizenship under the terms of the Danish Accession Treaty. This is in contrast to residents of the Danish territory of
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
who, whilst also outside the EU as a result of the 1984
Greenland Treaty
After being a part of the European Communities (EC) for twelve years, Greenland withdrew in 1985. It had joined the EC in 1973 as a county of Denmark, even though a majority in Greenland was against joining. In a consultative referendum in 19 ...
, do receive EU citizenship as this was not specifically excluded by the terms of that treaty (see
Faroe Islands and the European Union;
Greenland and the European Union
Greenland, an autonomous Countries of the Kingdom of Denmark, territory within the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark (which also includes the territories of Denmark and Faroe Islands) is one of the EU members’ Special member state territories a ...
).
Greenland
Although Greenland
withdrew from the
European Communities
The European Communities (EC) were three international organizations that were governed by the same set of institutions. These were the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), and the ...
in 1985, the
autonomous territory
An autonomous administrative division (also referred to as an autonomous area, entity, unit, region, subdivision, or territory) is a subnational administrative division
Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country su ...
within the
Kingdom of Denmark
The Danish Realm ( da, Danmarks Rige; fo, Danmarkar Ríki; kl, Danmarkip Naalagaaffik), officially the Kingdom of Denmark (; ; ), is a sovereign state located in Northern Europe and Northern North America. It consists of Denmark, metropolitan ...
remains associated with the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
, being one of the
overseas countries and territories
The special territories of members of the European Economic Area (EEA) are the 32 special territories of EU member states and EFTA member states which, for historical, geographical, or political reasons, enjoy special status within or outside ...
of the EU. The relationship with the EU means that all
Danish citizens residing in
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
are EU citizens. This allows Greenlanders to move and reside freely within the EU. This contrasts with Danish citizens living in the
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.
They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...
who are excluded from EU citizenship.
Summary of member states' nationality laws
This is a summary of nationality laws for each of the twenty-seven EU member states.
Loss of EU citizenship due to member state withdrawal
The general rule for losing EU citizenship is that European citizenship is lost if member state nationality is lost, but the automatic loss of EU citizenship as a result of a member state withdrawing from the EU is the subject of debate.
One school of legal thought indicates that the Maastricht treaty created the European Union as a legal entity, it then also created the status of EU citizen which gave an individual relationship between the EU and its citizens, and a status of EU citizen.
Clemens Rieder Clemens is both a Late Latin masculine given name and a surname meaning "merciful". Notable people with the name include:
Surname
* Adelaide Clemens (born 1989), Australian actress.
* Andrew Clemens (b. 1852 or 1857–1894), American folk artist
* ...
suggests a case can be made that "
ne of the Member States were forced to confer the status of EU citizenship on their citizens but once they have, according to this argument, they cannot simply withdraw this status.". In this situation, no EU citizen would involuntarily lose their citizenship due to their nation's withdrawal from the EU.
It is likely that only a court case before the European Court of Justice would be able to properly determine the correct legal position in this regard, as there is no definitive legal certainty in this area. As of 7 February 2018, the District Court of Amsterdam decided to refer the matter to the European Court of Justice, but the state of the Netherlands has appealed against this referral decision.
United Kingdom
As a result of the
Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union
Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...
, the opinion of both the European Union and the British government has been that British citizens would lose their EU citizenship and EU citizens would lose their automatic right to stay in the UK. To account for the problems arising from this, a provisional agreement outlines the right of British citizens to remain in the EU (and vice versa) where they are resident in the Union on the day of the UK's withdrawal. EU citizens may remain in the UK post-Brexit if and only if they apply to
EU Settlement Scheme. The only exception to this is Irish citizens, who are entitled to live and work in the United Kingdom under the
Common Travel Area
The Common Travel Area (CTA; ga, Comhlimistéar Taistil, ) is an open borders area comprising the United Kingdom, Ireland, Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands. The British Overseas Territories are not included. Based on agreements that are not ...
.
European Citizens' Initiatives to challenge Brexit
As a result of the
Brexit referendum
The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate whether the country shoul ...
, there were three
European Citizens' Initiative
The European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) is a European Union (EU) mechanism aimed at increasing direct democracy by enabling "EU citizens to participate directly in the development of EU policies", introduced with the Treaty of Lisbon in 2007. The ...
s that were registered which sought to protect the rights and/or status of British EU citizens.
Out of these three initiatives, the one with the strongest legal argument was registered on 27 March 2017 and officially named "EU Citizenship for Europeans: United in Diversity in Spite of jus soli and jus sanguinis". It is clear that the initiative abides by the first school of thought mentioned above because the annexe that was submitted with the initiative clearly makes reference to
Rieder
Rieder is a village and a former municipality in the district of Harz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 December 2013, it is part of the town Ballenstedt. Between 1 January 2011 and 19 February 2013, it was part of the town Quedlinburg.
There ...
's work.
In an article titled
Extending [fullEU citizenship to UK nationals ESPECIALLY after Brexit">ull">
Extending [full
EU citizenship to UK nationals ESPECIALLY after Brexit and published with the online magazine ''Politics Means Politics'', the creator of the initiative argues that British nationals ''must'' keep their EU citizenship by detaching citizenship of the European Union from Member State nationality. Perhaps the most convincing and authoritative source that is cited in the article is the acting President of the
European Court of Justice
The European Court of Justice (ECJ, french: Cour de Justice européenne), formally just the Court of Justice, is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Un ...
, Koen Lenaerts who published an article where he explains how the Court analyses and decides cases dealing with citizenship of the European Union. Both Lenaerts and the creator of the Initiative refer to rulings by the
European Court of Justice
The European Court of Justice (ECJ, french: Cour de Justice européenne), formally just the Court of Justice, is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Un ...
which state that:
* “''Citizenship of the Union is intended to be the fundamental status of nationals of the Member States''” (inter alia:
''Grzelczyk'', paragraph 31;
''Baumbast and R'', paragraph 82; ''Garcia Avello'', paragraph 22;
''Zhu and Chen'', parag. 25; ''Rottmann'', parag. 43; ''Zambrano'', parag. 41, etc.)
* "''Article 20 TFEU precludes national measures that have the effect of depriving citizens of the Union of the genuine enjoyment of the substance of the rights conferred by virtue of their status as citizens of the Union''" (Inter alia: ''Rottmann'', parag. 42; ''Zambrano'', parag. 42; ''McCarthy'', parag 47; ''Dereci'', parag. 66; ''O and Others'', parag. 45; ''CS'', parag. 26; ''Chavez-Vilchez and Others'', parag. 61, etc.)
Based on the argument presented by "EU Citizenship for Europeans" and its creator, Brexit is a textbook definition of a Member State depriving a European citizen of his or her rights as EU citizens, and therefore a legal act is necessary to protect not just rights but the status of EU citizen itself. Despite variances in interpretation of some points of law raised by the Initiative, the European Commission's decision to register the initiative confirms the strength and merit of the initiative's legal argument. On the other hand, the counter-argument is that citizenship of the Union is expressly conferred only upon nationals of Member States, and has been lost by UK nationals because the UK has ceased to be a Member State.
Associate Citizenship
A proposal made first by
Guy Verhofstadt
Guy Maurice Marie Louise Verhofstadt (; ; born 11 April 1953) is a Belgian politician who was the leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe from 2009 to 2019, and has been a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Belgium ...
, the European Parliament's Brexit negotiator, to help cover the rights of British citizens post-Brexit would see British citizens able to opt-out of the loss of EU citizenship as a result of the general clauses of the withdrawal agreement. This would allow visa-free working on the basis of their continuing rights as EU citizens. This, he termed, "associate citizenship". This has been discussed with the UK's negotiator
David Davis. However, it was made clear by the British government that there would be no role for EU institutions concerning its citizens, effectively removing the proposal as a possibility.
Danish opt-out
Denmark obtained four opt-outs from the Maastricht Treaty following the treaty's initial rejection in a
1992 referendum. The opt-outs are outlined in the
Edinburgh Agreement and concern the EMU (as above), the
Common Security and Defence Policy
The Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) is the European Union's (EU) course of action in the fields of defence and crisis management, and a main component of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).
The CSDP involves the deplo ...
(CSDP),
Justice and Home Affairs
The area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ) is a collection of justice as well as migration & home affairs policies designed to ensure security, rights and free movement within the European Union (EU). Fields covered include the harmonisati ...
(JHA) and the citizenship of the European Union. The citizenship opt-out stated that European citizenship did not replace national citizenship; this opt-out was rendered meaningless when the
Amsterdam Treaty
The Treaty of Amsterdam, officially the Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty on European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related acts, was signed on 2 October 1997, and entered into force on 1 May 1999; i ...
adopted the same wording for all members. The policy of recent Danish governments has been to hold referendums to abolish these opt-outs, including formally abolishing the citizenship opt-out which is still legally active even if redundant.
Availability to people with European ancestry
Given the substantial number of Europeans who emigrated throughout the world in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the extension of citizenship by descent, or ''
jus sanguinis
( , , ; 'right of blood') is a principle of nationality law by which citizenship is determined or acquired by the nationality or ethnicity of one or both parents. Children at birth may be citizens of a particular state if either or both of t ...
'', by some EU member states to an unlimited number of generations of those emigrants' descendants, there are potentially many tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of people currently outside Europe who have a claim to citizenship in an EU member state and, by extension, to EU citizenship.
There have also been extensive debates in European national legislatures on whether, and to what extent, to modify nationality laws of a number of countries to further extend citizenship to these groups of ethnic descendants, potentially dramatically increasing the pool of EU citizens further.
If these individuals were to overcome the bureaucratic hurdles of certifying their citizenship, they would enjoy freedom of movement to live anywhere in the EU, under the 1992
European Court of Justice
The European Court of Justice (ECJ, french: Cour de Justice européenne), formally just the Court of Justice, is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Un ...
decision ''Micheletti v Cantabria''.
See also
*
Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union
The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFR) enshrines certain political, social, and economic rights for European Union (EU) citizens and residents into EU law. It was drafted by the European Convention and solemnly proclaim ...
*
European citizens' consultations
*
European Citizens' Initiative
The European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) is a European Union (EU) mechanism aimed at increasing direct democracy by enabling "EU citizens to participate directly in the development of EU policies", introduced with the Treaty of Lisbon in 2007. The ...
*
Europe for Citizens
Europe for Citizens (formerly Citizens for Europe) is a European Union programme designed to help bridge the gap between citizens and the European Union. Ending in 2006, the European Commission on 6 April 2005 adopted a proposal for a programme t ...
*
Four Freedoms (European Union)
*
National identity cards in the European Economic Area
National identity cards are issued to their citizens by the governments of all European Economic Area (EEA) member states except Denmark, Iceland and Ireland. Ireland however issues a passport card which is a valid document in the EEA and Swi ...
*
Naturalisation
Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...
*
Passport of the European Union
*
Visa requirements for the European Union citizens
Visa requirements for European Union citizens are administrative entry restrictions by the authorities of other countries placed on citizens of the European Union. They differ among countries. The European Union has achieved full reciprocity with ...
References
Further reading
* Alvarado, Ed (2016).
Citizenship vs Nationality: drawing the fundamental border with law and etymology'. Master's thesis at the
Diplomatic Academy of Vienna
The Diplomatic Academy of Vienna (DA; German: ''Diplomatische Akademie Wien''), also known as the Vienna School of International Studies, is a postgraduate professional school based in Vienna, Austria, with focused training for students and prof ...
. .
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
EU Citizenship European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
Directorate-General for Justice
:''DG Justice, Freedom and Security was split in 2010. For Home Affairs (security), see Directorate-General for Home Affairs (European Commission).''
The Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers (DG JUST) is a Directorate-General of the Europ ...
EUDO Citizenship Observatory
{{Authority control
Human migration
European Union law
European nationality law
British nationality law
Irish nationality law
Citizenship