Deprivation of Citizenship: Is There an Issue of EU Law?

Jo Shaw

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-92719-0_44

Abstract

AbstractThe purpose of this short intervention in the debate on The Return of Banishment initiated by Audrey Macklin, where the pros and cons of various forms of deprivation policies pursued by, or sought by, liberal states have been fully debated, is to add an element of EU law. Specifically, in the light of the judgments of the European Court of Justice in Rottmann and Ruiz Zambrano, how – if at all – are Member States’ laws and procedures on involuntary loss of citizenship affected by EU law, given that the primary competence to determine the rules on the acquisition and loss of citizenship remains with Member States?

Highlights

Deprivation of Citizenship: Is There an Issue of EU Law?. The purpose of this short intervention in the debate on The Return of Banishment initiated by Audrey Macklin, where the pros and cons of various forms of deprivation policies pursued by, or sought by, liberal states have been fully debated, is to add an element of EU law
In the light of the judgments of the European Court of Justice in Rottmann[1] and Ruiz Zambrano[2], how – if at all – are Member States’ laws and procedures on involuntary loss of citizenship affected by EU law, given that the primary competence to determine the rules on the acquisition and loss of citizenship remains with Member States? At the time of the hearing, well informed observers[3] who followed the UK Supreme Court hearing in the case of B2 (Pham) v SSHD4 concerned with the UK’s rather extensive deprivation powers and the issue of statelessness indicated that they thought it likely that the Supreme Court would make a reference to the Court of Justice
While some have suggested that the essence of Rottmann lay in the way that the claimant is strung across between the national citizenship laws of two EU Member States, one at least of which claims exclusivity and operates an automatic rule of withdrawal in the event that a citizen acquires the citizenship of another state, the point about loss of the benefits of EU citizenship as a freestanding principle of EU law without regard to prior movement from one Member State to another was given a further boost in the case of Ruiz Zambrano

Summary

Introduction

The purpose of this short intervention in the debate on The Return of Banishment initiated by Audrey Macklin, where the pros and cons of various forms of deprivation policies pursued by, or sought by, liberal states have been fully debated, is to add an element of EU law.

Results

Conclusion