EU citizenship: Revisiting its meaning, place and potential

European Journal of Migration and Law

Volumn 12, Issue 3, 2010, Pages 319-336

  De Waele, Henri ^a  

^a RADBOUD UNIVERSITY NIJMEGEN   (Netherlands)

Author keywords

equal treatment; EU citizenship; residence rights; third country nationals; Treaty of Lisbon

Indexed keywords

EID: 77955879601     PISSN: 1388364X     EISSN: 15718166     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/157181610X520391     Document Type: Article

References (77)

1. Catherine Barnard, The Substantive Law of the EU: The Four Freedoms, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008, p. 410 (footnotes omitted).
2. Directive 2004/38/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States, OJ 2004, L 158/77, as corrected in OJ 2007, L 204/28.
3. In accordance with Article 6 of the Treaty of Lisbon (OJ 2007, C 306/1), the envisaged amendments to the EU and EC Treaties took effect on the first day of the first month following the deposition of the last national ratification, which was 1 December 2009 (the Czech Republic was the final state to ratify it, in November 2009).
4. Cf. Gregg Camfield, The Oxford Companion to Mark Twain, New York: Oxford University Press, 2002, p. 23.
5. Admittedly, the issue is of little practical significance, as Article 1 TEU and Article 1 TFEU declare that the Union is founded on both Treaties, and that these have an identical legal value. All the same, this does not dispose of the principled argument voiced here; either the positioning is skewed, or the phrasing erroneous.
6. Article 10, paragraph 2 TEU; Article 14, paragraph 2 TEU.
7. Article 10, paragraph 3 TEU.
8. The further conditions and procedures are to be determined in accordance with Article 24 paragraph 1 TFEU. After a broad public consultation on the basis of a green paper, the Commission recently tabled a Proposal for a Regulation on the citizen's initiative, COM (2010) 119 final.
9. In Articles 1 and 3, paragraph 1 TEU.
10. Article 3 TEU, paragraphs 3 and 5 respectively.
11. See Article 52 paragraph 5 of the Charter (OJ 2007, C 303/01). Moreover, Polish, British and Czech nationals are left empty-handed following their countries' opt-out from the Charter, secured respectively in Protocol (No 30) on the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union to Poland and to the United Kingdom (OJ 2007, C 303/156), and the Conclusions of the European Council of 29 and 30 October 2009 (publicly available on http://www.consilium.EUropa.EU/ueDocs/cms-Data/ docs/pressData/en/ec/110889.pdf ).
12. See e.g. CONV 369/02; CONV 528/03; CONV 598/03, available at http://European-convention. EU.int.
13. Entries consulted in the second edition, Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press 1989.
14. Emphasis added in all versions.
15. See e.g. Samantha Besson and André Utzinger, 'Future Challenges of European Citizenship - Facing a Wide-Open Pandora's Box', (2007) 13 European Law Journal, pp. 586-587;
16. René Barents, Het Verdrag van Lissabon: Achtergronden en Commentaar, Deventer: Kluwer, 2008, pp. 226-227;
17. Charlotte O'Brien, 'Social Blind Spots and Monocular Policy Making: the ECJ's Migrant Worker Model', 45 (2009) Common Market Law Review, pp. 1109-1110.
18. Contrast however Annette Schrauwen, 'European Union Citizenship in the Treaty of Lisbon: Any Change at All?', (2008) 15 Maastricht Journal, p. 60.
19. See e.g. Case C-378/97, Criminal proceedings against Florus Ariel Wijsenbeek, [1999] ECR I-6207; Joined cases C-64/96 & 65-96, Land Nordrhein-Westfalen v Uecker and Jacquet v Land Nordrhein-Westfalen, [1997] ECR I-3171. Prior to the entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty, the provisions were Article 8 and 8a EC.
20. Case C-85/96, Maria Martinez Sala v Freistaat Bayern, [1998] ECR I-2691.
21. Ulrich Becker, 'Freizügigkeit in der EU - auf dem Weg vom Begleitrecht zur Bürgerfreiheit', Europarecht 1999, p. 532;
22. Christian Tomuschat, 'Case Note Martinez Sala', (2000) 37 Common Market Law Review 2000, p. 450;
23. Dieter H. Scheuing, 'Freizügigkeit als Unionsbürgerrecht', Europarecht 2003, p. 782.
24. Barnard, op. cit. (supra, footnote 2), p. 432: "The Court fudged the issue of what was meant by 'all situations' falling within the material scope of Community law. It seems that the Court thought that because the child-raising allowance constituted a social advantage within the meaning of Article 7 (2) of Regulation 1612/68 it fell within the material scope of Community law, even though the judgment was premised on the fact that Martinez Sala was not a worker."
25. Case C-224/98, Marie-Nathalie d'Hoop v Office national d'emploi, [2002] ECR I-6191.
26. Eleanor Spaventa, 'Seeing the Wood despite the Trees? On the Scope of Union Citizenship and its Constitutional Effects', (2008) 45 Common Market Law Review, p. 19.
27. Case C-184/99, Rudy Grzelczyk v Centre public d'aide sociale d'Ottignies-Louvain-la-NEUve, [2001] ECR I-6193.
28. Ibid., paragraph 31.
29. Case C-413/99, Baumbast and R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, [2002] ECR I-07091 (the repetition is in paragraph 82).
30. Contained in Articles 1 and 3 of Council Directive 90/364/EEC of 28 June 1990 on the right of residence, OJ 1990, L180/26.
31. Case C-148/02, Carlos Garcia Avello v Belgian State, [2003] ECR I-11613; Case C-200/02, Kunqian Catherine Zhu and Man Lavette Chen v Secretary of State for the Home Department, [2004] ECR I-9925.
32. Cf. A. Arnull, The European Union and its Court of Justice, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 531: "The Court refused to limit a citizen's rights through a notion of abuse, even though it was clear that her nationality had been acquired purely to secure a right of residence for herself and her mother, a national of a third country, in another Member State and that neither of them had any real and effective link with any Member State."
33. Case C-403/03, Egon Schempp v Finanzamt Munchen V, [2005] ECR I-06421.
34. Case C-192/05, Tas-Hagen and Tas v Raadskamer WUBO van de Pensioen- en Uitkeringsraad, [2006] ECR I-10451.
35. Case C-499/06, Nerkowska v Zak?ad Ubezpiecze? Spo?ecznych Oddzia? w Koszalinie, [2008] ECR I-3993.
36. Case C-76/05, Schwarz and Gootjes-Schwarz v Finanzamt Bergisch Gladbach [2007] ECR I-6849.
37. Joined cases C-11/06 and C-12/06, Rhiannon Morgan v Bezirksregierung Koln and Iris Bucher v Landrat des Kreises Duren, [2007] ECR I-09161.
38. Case C-209/03, The Queen, on the application of Dany Bidar v London Borough of Ealing and Secretary of State for Education and Skills, [2005] I- ECR 2119.
39. Case C-158/07, Jacqueline Forster v Hoofddirectie van de Informatie Beheer Groep, [2008] ECR I-8507.
40. Directive 2004/38/EC, specifically Article 24 (2) thereof: "[T]he host Member State (. . .) shall not be obliged (. . .) prior to acquisition of the right of permanent residence, to grant maintenance aid for studies, including vocational training, consisting in student grants or student loans to persons other than workers, self-employed persons, persons who retain such status and members of their families."
41. Siofra O'Leary, 'Equal treatment and EU citizens: A New Chapter on Cross-border Educational Mobility and Access to Student Financial Assistance', (2009) 34 European Law Review, p. 627.
42. In the same sense O'Brien, op. cit. (supra, footnote 16), pp. 1110-1111.
43. Case C-127/08, Blaise Baheten Metock and Others v Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, [2008] ECR-06241.
44. Albeit that the ECJ, by employing the term 'destiny', seems still to be gazing into a crystal ball, and projecting full delivery for the near (though certain - as destinies tend to be) future. Compare however the recent ruling in Case C-135/08, Janko Rottman v Freistaat Bayern, nyr, in which the Court stressed that national rules on the acquisition or loss of nationality should take heed of their possible effects on the EU citizenship of the persons concerned - not the other way around.
45. Thus Article 3 of Directive 2004/38.
46. Ibid.
47. See Case C-370/90, The Queen v Immigration Appeal Tribunal and Surinder Singh, ex parte Secretary of State for Home Department [1992] ECR I-04265; see also Case C-291/05, Minister voor Vreemdelingenzaken en Integratie v R. N. G. Eind, [2007] ECR I-10719.
48. See Case 120/78, Rewe-Zentral v Bundesmonopolverwaltung fur Branntwein, [1979] ECR 649; Case C-415/93, Union Royale Belge des Societes de Football Association ASBL and Royal club liegeois v Jean- Marc Bosman, [1995] ECR I-4921; Case C-76/90, Manfred Sager v Dennemeyer & Co., [1991] ECR 1-4221; Case C-55/94, Reinhard Gebhard v Consiglio dell' Ordine degli Avvocati e Procuratori di Milano, [1995] ECR I-4165.
49. As already anticipated by e.g. Niamh Nic Shuibne, 'Free Movement of Persons and the Wholly Internal Rule: Time to Move On?' (2002) 39 Common Market Law Review, p. 731;
50. Herwig Verschueren, 'Reverse Discrimination: An Unsolvable Problem?', in: Paul Minderhoud and Nicos Trimikliniotis (eds.), Rethinking the Free Movement of Workers: The European Challenges Ahead, Nijmegen: Wolf Legal Publishers, p. 99.
51. Spaventa, op. cit. (supra, footnote 22), p. 38.
52. See e.g. Case C-60/00, Mary Carpenter v Secretary of State for the Home Department, [2002] ECR I-6279.
53. Supra, footnote 42.
54. See e.g. Oxana Golynker, Ubiquitous Citizens of Europe: The Paradigm of Partial Migration, Antwerp- Oxford: Intersentia 2006, p. 50.
55. Article 14(2) of Directive 2004/2038. Ex Article 14 (3), expulsion may however not be an automatic consequence of recourse to social assistance.
56. Inter alia in the United Kingdom, where the 2006 Social Security Amendment Regulations make the council tax benefit, income support, jobseekers allowance, housing benefit, pension credit and the social fund maternity benefit dependent on the right to reside, which in turn depends on meeting the resources requirement. For further details, also on the approaches taken in other Member States, see Paul Minderhoud, 'Free Movement, Directive 2004/38 and Access to Social Benefits', in: Minderhoud and Trimikliniotis, cited supra (footnote 44), pp. 77-84.
57. On this point, see also Jochen MEUlman and Henri de Waele, 'Funding the Life of Brian. Jobseekers, Welfare Shopping and the Frontiers of European Citizenship', (2004) 31 Legal Issues of Economic Integration, pp. 285-288.
58. As famously argued by AG Jacobs in his Opinion in Case C-168/91, Christos Konstantinidis v Stadt Altensteig-Standesamt [1993] ECR 1-1191, para 46.
59. The pervasiveness of the general principles of EU law, excluding the applicability of contrary national rules even in purely horizontal situations, was recently underlined in the rulings in Case C-144/04, Werner Mangold v Rudiger Helm, [2005] ECR I-9981 and Case C-555/07, Seda Kucukdeveci v Swedex GmbH & Co. KG, Judgment of 19 January 2010, nyr.
60. Joined Cases C-6/90 and C-9/90, Andrea Francovich v Italy and Danila Bonifaci v Italy, [1991] ECR I-5357.
61. See, most notably, Council Directive 2003/109/EC of 25 November 2003 concerning the status of third- country nationals who are long-term residents, OJ 2004, L 16/44, and Council Directive 2003/86/EC of 22 September 2003 on the right to family rEUnification, OJ 2003, L 251/12.
62. Albeit that Directive 2003/109/EC contains specific, more limited non-discrimination guarantees.
63. As recently sanctioned by the ECJ in Case C-145/04, Spain v United Kingdom, [2006] ECR I-7917.
64. See Seyla Benhabib, The Rights of Others: Aliens, Residents and Citizens, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 153-163.
65. Besson and Utzinger, op. cit. (supra, footnote 16), p. 580.
66. This is considerably broader than the previous Article 63 (4) EC, which permitted the Council only to adopt 'measures defining the rights and conditions under which nationals of third countries who are legally resident in a Member State may reside in other Member States'.
67. Cf. Schrauwen, op. cit. (supra, footnote 16), p. 60: "If Union citizenship complements national citi zenship, there is no Union citizenship without national citizenship. If Union citizenship is additional to Union citizenship, then there might one day be Union citizenship without national citizenship" (italics in original).
68. Although some discern a cautious trend of convergence: see Ayelet Shachar, 'Children of a Lesser State: Sustaining Global Inequality through Citizenship Laws', Jean Monnet Working Paper 2/03, p. 27 (available on http://centers.law.nyu.edu/jeanmonnet/papers/03/030201.html); Benhabib, op. cit. (supra, footnote 58), pp. 156 ff.
69. In abeyance of the required political will, the EU could of course also go and adopt measures to facilitate the naturalization of TCNs (stopping short of harmonising the conditions governing the acquisition of nationality, which continues to lay outside its competence). As Besson and Utzinger (supra, footnote 16, p. 581) have pointed out, this would have the advantage of working bottom-up instead of top-down, thus enjoying greater legitimacy, and building up momentum for a greater leap forwards at a later stage.
70. The version solemnly proclaimed by the presidents of the Commission, the Council and the Parliament, on the evening preceding the signing of the Treaty of Lisbon (published in OJ 2007, C 303/1, with the explanations of the drafters and guidelines for interpretation in C 2007 303/17), which replaced both the Herzog-Convention and the Constitutional Treaty editions (published in OJ 2000, C 364/1 and OJ 2004, C 310/41 respectively).
71. Cf. supra, footnote 12; on the defects of these opt-outs, see Michael Dougan, 'The Treaty of Lisbon 2007: Winning Minds, Not Hearts', (2008) 45 Common Market Law Review, pp. 665-671;
72. Julio Baquero Cruz, 'What's Left of the Charter? Reflections on Law and Political Mythology', (2008) 15 Maastricht Journal, pp. 71-72.
73. Dora Kostakopoulou, 'European Union Citizenship: Writing the Future', (2007) 13 European Law Journal, p. 624.
74. See, with further references, Meulman and De Waele, op. cit. (supra, footnote 51), p. 275.
75. As most readers will be aware, judged from countless angles, the Constitutional Treaty is as like the Lisbon Treaty as two peas in a pod. See Tim Corthaut, 'Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose? A Comparison with the Constitutional Treaty', (2008) 15 Maastricht Journal, pp. 17-31;
76. Dougan, Maastricht Journal. op. cit. (supra, footnote 64), pp. 621-626.
77. Kostakopoulou, Maastricht Journal. op. cit. (supra, footnote 66), p. 625.