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Citizenship of the European Union was introduced by the Maastricht Treaty, which was signed in 1992, and has been in force since 1993. European Union citizenship is supplementary to national citizenship and affords rights such as the right to vote in European elections, the right to free movement, settlement and employment across the EU, and the right to consular protection by other EU states' embassies when a person's country of citizenship does not maintain an embassy or consulate in the country they need protection in.[1]
EU citizenship as a distinct concept was first introduced by the Maastricht Treaty, and was extended by the Treaty of Amsterdam.[2] Prior to the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, the European Communities treaties provided guarantees for the free movement of economically active persons, but not, generally, for others. The 1951 Treaty of Paris[3] establishing the European Coal and Steel Community established a right to free movement for workers in these industries and the 1957 Treaty of Rome[4] provided for the free movement of workers and services.
However, the Treaty provisions were interpreted by the European Court of Justice not as having a narrow economic purpose, but rather a wider social and economic purpose.[5] In Levin,[6] 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".[5] Under the ECJ caselaw, the rights of free movement of workers applies regardless of the worker's purpose in taking up employment abroad,[6] to both part-time and full-time work,[6] and whether or not the worker required additional financial assistance from the Member State into which he moves.[7] Since, the ECJ has held[8] that a recipient of service has free movement rights under the treaty and this criterion is easily fulfilled,[9] effectively every national of an EU country within another Member State, whether economically active or not, had a right under Article 12 of the European Community Treaty to non-discrimination even prior to the Maastricht Treaty.[10]
In Martinez Sala,[11] the European Court of Justice held that the citizenship provisions provided substantive free movement rights in addition to those already granted by Union law.
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 states[12] and Switzerland.[13] However with the creation of EU citizenship, certain political rights came into being. The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union[14] provides for citizens to be "directly represented at Union level in the European Parliament", 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;
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of the European Union
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Article 21 (1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union[14] 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 has remarked that,
EU Citizenship is destined to be the fundamental status of nationals of the Member States[17]
The ECJ has held that this Article confers a directly effective right upon citizens to reside in another Member State.[17][18] Before the case of Baumbast,[18] 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)[19] 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.[20] Member States can distinguish between nationals and Union citizens but only if the provisions satisfy the test of proportionality.[21] 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"[22] 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.[21]
Article 45 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union[14] states that
1. Freedom of movement for workers shall be secured within the Union. 2. Such freedom of movement shall entail the abolition of any discrimination based on nationality between workers of the Member States as regards employment, remuneration and other conditions of work and employment.
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[23] in the Citizens' Rights Directive 2004/38/EC on the right to move and reside freely within the EU.[24]
New member states may undergo transitional regimes, 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 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 and Germany—had completely dropped controls. These restrictions too expired on 1 May 2011.[25]
Following the 2007 enlargement, all pre-2004 member states except Finland and Sweden imposed restrictions on Bulgarian and Romanian citizens, as did two member states that joined in 2004: Malta and Hungary. 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 and Lichtenstein may keep restrictions in place until 2016.[25]
Following the 2013 enlargement, some countries implemented restrictions on Croatian nationals following the country's EU accession on 1 July 2013. As of July 2013, all but 13 EU countries have dropped restrictions entirely.[26] The UK Home Office has announced a bill to this effect.[27]
There is no common EU policy on the acquisition of European citizenship as it is supplementary to national citizenship (one cannot be an EU citizen without being a national of a member state). Article 20 (1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union[14] 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."[28] 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.[29]
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.
For example, owing to the complexity of British nationality law, a 1982 declaration by the UK government defined who would be deemed to be a British "national" for European Union purposes:[30]
This declaration therefore excludes from EU citizenship various historic categories of British citizenship generally associated with former British colonies, such as British Overseas Citizens, British Nationals (Overseas), British Protected Persons and any British subject which does not have the 'right of abode' under UK immigration law.
In 2002, with the passing of the British Overseas Territories Act 2002, 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 on the Island of Cyprus).[31] This has effectively granted them full EU citizenship rights, including free movement rights, although only residents of Gibraltar have the right to vote in European Parliament elections. In contrast, British citizens in the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man have always been considered to be EU citizens but, unlike residents of the British overseas territories, are prohibited from exercising EU free movement rights under the terms of the UK Accession Treaty. (see Guernsey passport, Isle of Man passport, Jersey passport).[32]
Another example are the residents of Faroe Islands of Denmark which, 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.[33] This is in contrast to residents of the Danish territory of Greenland who, whilst also outside the EU as a result of the 1984 Greenland Treaty, 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).
This is a summary of nationality laws for each of the twenty-eight EU member states.[34]
Persons born in Austria:
Austrian nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions:
Persons born in Belgium who:
Belgian nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions:
Persons born in Bulgaria who:
Bulgarian nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions:
Conditions: born to Croatian parents born after March 1, 1991 and if parents are married at the time of birth, Croatian citizenship of mother the father is required should the parents happen to marry at some time after birth, citizenship is automatically granted to child retroactively. If the child is over 14 at that time, child's consent is needed. ?
Persons born in Cyprus who:
Cypriot nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions:
Persons born in the Czech Republic:
Persons born in Denmark who:
Persons born in Estonia who:
No (unless married to an Estonian citizen before 26 February 1992)
No (although Estonian citizens by descent cannot be deprived of their Estonian citizenship)
Persons born in Finland who:
(Possibility to obtain citizenship by declaration exists for inborn aliens who have lived a major part of their childhood in Finland.)
Finnish nationality is acquired by descent from a Finnish mother, and from a Finnish father under one of the following conditions:
French nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions:
Persons born in Germany, if at least one parent has resided in Germany for at least 8 years and holds a permanent residence permit
No, unless:
Persons born in Greece who:
Greek nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions:
Persons born in Hungary who:
Hungarian nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions:
Persons born in Ireland:
Irish nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions:
Persons born in Italy who:
Italian nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions:
Persons born in Latvia who:
Latvian nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions:
Persons born in Lithuania who:
Lithuanian nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions:
Persons born in Luxembourg who:
Maltese nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions:
5 years of marriage to a Maltese citizen (if de jure or de facto separated, then still living together five years after the marriage) or a widow/widower of a Maltese citizen five years after the marriage
5 years of residence
Persons born in Netherlands who:
Dutch nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions:
Persons born in Poland.
Polish nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions:
Descendants of Polish-language/ethnic persons in some neighboring countries including Belarus, Lithuania, Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine et al., can apply for Karta Polaka which gives many of the same rights as Polish citizenship but serves as a substitute when acquisition of Polish citizenship would result in the loss of the person's earlier citizenship.
Persons born in Portugal who:
Portuguese nationality is transmitted by descent under one of the following conditions:
Persons born in Romania who:
Romanian nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions:
Persons born in Slovakia who:
Slovak nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions:
A child born in Slovenia is a Slovenian citizen if either parent is a Slovenian citizen. Where the child is born outside Slovenia the child will be automatically Slovenian if:
A person born outside Slovenia with one Slovenian parent who is not Slovenian automatically may acquire Slovenian citizenship through:
Children adopted by Slovenian citizens may be granted Slovenian citizenship.
Slovenian nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions:
Persons born in Spain who:
Persons born in Sweden who:
Swedish nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions:
Persons born in United Kingdom who:
British nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions:
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 (CSDP), Justice and Home Affairs (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 adopted the same wording for all members. The policy of recent Danish governments has been to hold referenda to abolish these opt outs, including formally abolishing the citizenship opt out which is still technically active even if redundant.
1 British Overseas Territories.
2 Open border with Schengen Area.
3 Russia is a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. The vast majority of its population (80%) lives in European Russia, therefore Russia as a whole is included as a European country here.
4 Turkey is a transcontinental country in the Middle East and Southeast Europe. Has a small part of its territory (3%) in Southeast Europe called Turkish Thrace.
5 Abkhazia; South Ossetia) are transcontinental countries. Both have a small part of their territories in the European part of the Caucasus.
6 Kazakhstan is a transcontinental country. Has a small part of its territories located west of the Urals in Eastern Europe.
7 Armenia (Nagorno-Karabakh) and Cyprus (Northern Cyprus) are entirely in Southwest Asia but having socio-political connections with Europe.
8 Egypt is a transcontinental country in North Africa and the Middle East. Has a small part of its territory in the Middle East called Sinai peninsula.
9 Partially recognized.
Spain, Portuguese language, Lisbon, Porto, Madeira
European Parliament, Malta, Estonia, Romania, European Council
European People's Party, European Union, Brussels, Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, European Council
Andorra la Vella, France, Spain, Catalan language, Canada
European People's Party, Party of European Socialists, Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party, European Union, European Council
United Kingdom, France, United States, Israel, US dollar
Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Andorra, Argentina
United Kingdom, Isle of Man, Channel Islands, Switzerland, British Overseas Territories
Northern Ireland, Irish Free State, Parliament of Northern Ireland, European Union, Middle East