A European citizenship or a Europe of citizens? Third country nationals in the EU

Abstract

Beginning with the argument that the greatest inadequacy of European citizenship is its failure to address the situation of the some 12–13 million third country nationals permanently resident in the EU, this article examines the scope for granting such individuals political citizenship in the context of three constraints: member state hostility to a transfer of competence in nationality to Community institutions, competing definitions of nationality within the Union and a current definition of EU citizenship that institutionalises its derivative character. It considers three possibilities canvassed in the scholarly literature: an extension of EU citizenship as it is currently defined, an activist ECJ jurisprudence and an uncoordinated harmonisation of member state policies on naturalisation. In light of the practical limitations on these possibilities, the article concludes that the most feasible path to an inclusive European citizenship lies not in questioning the subordination of European citizenship to national citizenship, but rather in encouraging moves across the EU in favour of a general acceptance of dual nationality.