citizenship

obtaining and losing EU citizenship

Article 20

• 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

C-135/08 Rottman  

• Gave up Austrian citizenship to take up German citizenship. Fraud discovered, stripped of German citizenship, left Mr Rottman stateless.  

• CJEU - ‘due regard’ to EU law in situations that it applies to.  

• Could justify on grounds of solidarity and good faith, but must be compatible with proportionality. 

  • It is clear that the situation of a citizen of the Union who, like the applicant in the main proceedings, is faced with a decision withdrawing his naturalisation, adopted by the authorities of one Member State, and placing him, after he has lost the nationality of another Member State that he originally possessed, in a position capable of causing him to lose the status conferred by Article 17 EC and the rights attaching thereto falls, by reason of its nature and its consequences, within the ambit of European Union law. (+ proportionality test by national courts). 

losing eu citizenship Opinion AG Collins C-673/20 - post brexit

Following Brexit, UK nationals automatically lost their EU citizenship and associated rights, including the right to vote in local elections in other Member States. In the case of EP, a British national living in France, the Court held that her loss of rights was a direct consequence of the UK's sovereign decision to leave the EU, not of any action by France or the EU.

Therefore, her personal circumstances did not require assessment under the proportionality principle, unlike in earlier cases such as Rottmann or Tjebbes, where Member State decisions on nationality were at issue. Since EU citizenship is tied to holding the nationality of a Member State, and the UK is now a third country, EP’s situation falls outside the scope of EU law.

EU citizenship as a fundamental right

CJEU – Grzelczyk 

• Union citizenship is destined to be the fundamental status of nationals of the MS, enabling those who find themselves in the same situation to enjoy the same treatment in aw irrespective of their nationality.

Eu citizenship rights are displayed in Article 20 

right to move and reside

Article 21  

• 1. 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 the Treaties and by the measures adopted to give them effect.  

article 21 rights

• Right to leave the home state  

• The initial right of entry   

• The right of residence  

• The right to enjoy social advantages without discrimination when lawfully resident in a host state  

• The right to regular review of decision 

family members and citizenship, who gets mandatory admission

spouse

decedents under 21

registered parters recognised in home and hsot state

dependent decedents

dependent ascendants

EU citizenship - political participation (Art. 20 TFEU) 

• Citizens of the Union shall enjoy the rights and be subject to the duties provided for in the Treaties. They shall have, inter alia: 

• (a) the right to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States; participation 

• (b) the right to vote and to stand as candidates in elections to the European Parliament and in municipal elections in their Member State of residence, under the same conditions as nationals of that State 

right to move and reside + non discrimination 

article 18

• Within the scope of application of the Treaties, and without prejudice to any special provisions contained therein, any discrimination on grounds of nationality shall be prohibited.  

Article 20

• 1. 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.  

C-85/96 Martinex Sala

• A Spanish mother living in Germany, but didn’t possess a residence permit – hence, refused child allowance  

• German govt: yes, it is discrimination (Germans do not need to produce a residence permit in order to receive a child allowance), but the case does not fall within the scope of EU law because the person is not a worker  

• Martinez Sala: (After Maastricht) – I am an EU citizen; thus the case falls within the scope of the EU law. And therefore, the principle of non-discrimination applies 

• Judgment: 

  • Held there was unjust treatment  

C-184/99 Grzelczyk 

• French student applied for a student grant in Belgium, refused because not Belgian.  

• Only bar to grant was nationality, treatment prohibited by Art 18.  

• Union citizenship as the fundamental status, ‘(…) the same treatment in law irrespective of their nationality, subject to such exceptions as are expressly provided for’  

• Lawfully resident EU citizens can rely on Art 18 against all treatment falling within material scope of the Treaty.  

• ‘The fact that a Union citizen pursues university studies in a Member State other than the State of which he is a national cannot, of itself, deprive him of the possibility of relying on the prohibition of all discrimination on grounds of nationality’. 

Bringing TCN family members into your home state if you don’t move?  

• If denied this, surely you would be in a worse position overall compared to an EU migrant living in your state, who would be allowed to bring their family to live with them. Conflicts with the ideals of EU citizenship?  

• But CJEU has legally distinguished this situation – it would be wholly internal, and thus fall outside the scope of the Treaty.