The Impact of European Citizenship on the Association of the Overseas Countries and Territories with the European Community

Abstract

This paper, presented at a conference on the law of micro-states and small jurisdictions in Willemstad (Curaçao) in February 2009, outlines the far-reaching impact of the introduction of the concept of the citizenship of the European Union on the rules governing the association of the overseas countries and territories of the Member States with the European Community. Potentially, such association after Maastricht is principally different from the preceding legal regime: Community law applicable overseas does not stop at the confines of Part IV EC, EU citizenship playing an important role in spelling out the rules for association. An updated version of this paper is to appear in the Legal Issues of Economic Integration. Please consult LIEI for the definitive final verion.

Keywords: EU, law, citizenship, European citizenship, overseas possessions, association, ultra-peripheral regions, outermost regions