A ‘European Year of Citizens’? Looking Beyond Decision 1093/2012: Eyeing the European Elections of 2014

Abstract

This contribution discusses three pivotal post-Lisbon challenges of EU constitutional law and EU policies vis-à-vis European citizens, using the Decision 1093/2012, which established the European Year of Citizens (EYC) 2013, as a case study or a starting point for further reflection. Because of its silence on these challenges, the Decision unravels them: the need to dissociate legitimacy in the EU from information campaigns and move towards the establishment of additional instruments that will augment democratic legitimacy; the need to reconceptualize the so-called market citizenship, moving beyond references to and reliance upon free-movement rights; and the need to adequately address and protect the rights of third-country nationals. The remainder of this article examines whether the new procedure for the election of the Commission President could turn 2014 a more promising EYC, and considers the provisions of Article 17.7 TEU in relation to the aforementioned threefold constitutional framework.