European Governance of Citizenship and Nationality

The ability of a state to determine who its citizens are is a core element of sovereignty, yet even in this area coordination in the European Union has arisen as member states adjust their policies regarding citizenship acquisition and loss to take into account the European project. Furthermore, EU...

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Main Author: Willem Maas
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: UACES 2016-01-01
Series:Journal of Contemporary European Research
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.jcer.net/index.php/jcer/article/view/725
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author Willem Maas
author_facet Willem Maas
author_sort Willem Maas
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description The ability of a state to determine who its citizens are is a core element of sovereignty, yet even in this area coordination in the European Union has arisen as member states adjust their policies regarding citizenship acquisition and loss to take into account the European project. Furthermore, EU citizenship grants extensive rights that member states must respect, though the only way to become an EU citizen and acquire these rights remains through citizenship of a member state. This article sketches the development of EU citizenship from the 1950s to the present, mapping its evolution onto the phases of European governance utilised in this special issue. The search for closer coordination and common guidelines concerning citizenship flows from functional needs inevitably generated by superimposing a new supranational political community over existing national ones, resulting in shared governance within the framework of member state autonomy. Though welfare states and social systems in Europe remain national and jurisprudence safeguards the ability of member states to exclude individuals despite shared EU citizenship, legal judgments emphasise that member state competence concerning citizenship must be exercised in accordance with the Treaties and that member state decisions about naturalisation and denaturalisation are amenable to judicial review carried out in the light of EU law.
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spelling doaj.art-6a05d5a24ae843e78277a52d1e3488ab2022-12-21T23:54:10ZengUACESJournal of Contemporary European Research1815-347X2016-01-01121725European Governance of Citizenship and NationalityWillem Maas0York UniversityThe ability of a state to determine who its citizens are is a core element of sovereignty, yet even in this area coordination in the European Union has arisen as member states adjust their policies regarding citizenship acquisition and loss to take into account the European project. Furthermore, EU citizenship grants extensive rights that member states must respect, though the only way to become an EU citizen and acquire these rights remains through citizenship of a member state. This article sketches the development of EU citizenship from the 1950s to the present, mapping its evolution onto the phases of European governance utilised in this special issue. The search for closer coordination and common guidelines concerning citizenship flows from functional needs inevitably generated by superimposing a new supranational political community over existing national ones, resulting in shared governance within the framework of member state autonomy. Though welfare states and social systems in Europe remain national and jurisprudence safeguards the ability of member states to exclude individuals despite shared EU citizenship, legal judgments emphasise that member state competence concerning citizenship must be exercised in accordance with the Treaties and that member state decisions about naturalisation and denaturalisation are amenable to judicial review carried out in the light of EU law.https://www.jcer.net/index.php/jcer/article/view/725EU citizenshipFree movementRightsMultilevel citizenshipGovernance
spellingShingle Willem Maas
European Governance of Citizenship and Nationality
Journal of Contemporary European Research
EU citizenship
Free movement
Rights
Multilevel citizenship
Governance
title European Governance of Citizenship and Nationality
title_full European Governance of Citizenship and Nationality
title_fullStr European Governance of Citizenship and Nationality
title_full_unstemmed European Governance of Citizenship and Nationality
title_short European Governance of Citizenship and Nationality
title_sort european governance of citizenship and nationality
topic EU citizenship
Free movement
Rights
Multilevel citizenship
Governance
url https://www.jcer.net/index.php/jcer/article/view/725
work_keys_str_mv AT willemmaas europeangovernanceofcitizenshipandnationality