Should EU Citizenship Be Disentangled from Member State Nationality?

Abstract

Should EU citizenship be disentangled from Member State nationality? Certainly, says Dora Kostakopoulou. By no means, argues Richard Bellamy. In the 2nd Global Citizenship Governance Forum, we have asked a number of eminent scholars to take sides in this timely and important question. Under the current legal regime, each Member State has the power to lay down the conditions for acquisition and loss of citizenship based on national interests, without necessarily taking into account a European (or other states’) interests. The Forum challenges the empirical and normative assumptions underlying such a regime and examines the idea of autonomous European citizenship, free of Member State citizenship, from historical, conceptual, comparative, and legal perspectives. Overall, the Forum addresses some of the fundamental problems of European Union citizenship and reflects on alternative remedies – their political feasibility, legal implications, and the future of Union citizenship after Brexit.

Kickoffs by Dora Kostakopoulou and Richard Bellamy; contributions by Jean-Thomas Arrighi, Rainer Bauböck, Richard Bellamy, Dimitris Christopoulos, Jelena Džankić, Eva Ersbøll, Oliver Garner, Dimitry Kochenov, Dora Kostakopoulou, Jules Lepoutre, Willem Maas, Liav Orgad and Daniel Thym; rejoinder by Dora Kostakopoulou.

Keywords: Citizenship, EU Citizenship Law, European citizenship, Nationality, Access to Citizenship, Citizenship Deprivation, Brexit