8 Securing Consular Protection of the EU Citizens Abroad: What Role for the EU?

Abstract

This chapter explores whether EU citizenship confers certain concrete benefits to citizens of the Member States who find themselves in difficulty in third countries, or whether EU citizenship stops at the Union's borders and every EU citizen returns to being a citizen of their Member State of nationality when travelling or taking residence in a non-EU country. It identifies what are the consequences of absence of an external representation of a Member State for its citizens located in third countries. The chapter continues with a short overview of the methods of ensuring protection of EU citizens abroad during the pre- Lisbon Treaty period, concentrating on consular protection. It considers several options whereby the EU can effectively use the normative and institutional settings established by the Lisbon Treaty for the purpose of helping the Member States to ensure consular protection to the growing number of unrepresented Union citizens in the world. Keywords: consular protection; EU citizenship; Member States; non-EU country; pre- Lisbon Treaty period