European Union Citizenship: The Journey Goes On

Abstract:     
European citizenship has matured owing to the European Court of Justice’s tactical interventions in-between Treaty revisions and developments, such as the adoption of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which was proclaimed in Nice in December 2000, and the entry into force of Directive 2004/38 on 1 May 2006. In addition, it features centrally on the Commission’s policy agenda, as attested by the designation of 2006 as the European Year of workers’ mobility, the conversion of the European Union Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia into a fundamental Rights Agency (1 March 2007), the adoption of a Community action programme to promote active European citizenship, and the follow-up ‘Europe for Citizens’ programme which will run until 2013. These programmes seek to promote the active involvement of citizens in the process of European integration. In this chapter I examine the institutional development of Union citizenship and the ways in which the Court has utilised its wide-ranging transformative potential. In many respects, European citizenship constitutes a unique experiment for stretching social and political bonds beyond national boundaries and for creating a pluralistic and multilayered political community in which diverse peoples become associates in a collective experience.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 22

Keywords: Constructive European Citizenship, European Court of Justice, citizenship based on domicile, connexive citizenship, valuing social membership

Accepted Paper Series