Emerging from the Chrysalis: Union Citizenship Must Escape its Nationality-Based Shortcomings

Abstract

The European Union is at the core of a supranational citizenship project. This supranational project resulted in a crystallised form of citizenship in 1992, although it has been subject to constant revision by the ECJ since then. Nonetheless, the basis on which this novel form of citizenship is predicated is the traditional national paradigm of citizenship, with all its inherent sensitivities and inhibitions replicated on the international stage. It will be suggested that this nation-centric focus is ultimately the single biggest failing of European Union citizenship and its greatest limitation. The very nature of the supranational entity is exclusionary, to the detriment of over a million individuals. This paper will address which sectors of the broader European society are most affected by European citizenship’s exclusive properties and will explore the Union’s obligations and its responsibility to include marginalised groups, particularly the stateless, refugees, and third country nationals on an equal footing with Member State nationals. The extent of the statelessness problem will form the main portion of the discussion with a view to considering the challenges these at risk individuals face on a daily basis and how they can be incorporated in the most effective way within the Union framework: such incorporation will, of necessity, also mandate an examination of surrounding human rights issues, all the more pressing in light of the post-Lisbon Union commitment to accede to the European Convention on Human Rights. The stateless are not the only marginalised group found in Union territory: third country nationals who do not benefit from Directive 2003/109 nonetheless make a considerable contribution without receiving the same rights and freedoms as those serendipitous enough to call themselves ‘long-term residents’. The human rights and democratic bases of the Union appear to be undermined by the restrictive approach to inclusion that has, to date, been taken when addressing non-nationals’ incorporation under the citizenship umbrella. This paper aims to assess the shortcomings of the European Citizenship project by highlighting the effects of its exclusivity and the limitations of its notion of inclusivity. Rather than establishing a single supranational form of citizenship the Union has, instead, succeeded in developing a multi-tiered and hierarchical construct, far removed from the notion of ‘a broader community of peoples’. It will culminate in a proposal for a significantly modified vision of Union citizenship which would seek to overcome the current version’s apparent limitations, elevating the standing of the at risk groups in such a way that their contribution to Union life is fully, and deservedly, recognised.