Migration, Post-Migration Policies and Social Integration in Canada

Abstract

This chapter discusses recent legal developments, through both treaty changes and new case-law from the European Court of Justice, affecting the fairly new concept of European union (EU) citizenship. It analyzes EU citizenship growth historically, going back to the introduction of EU citizenship through the Maastricht Treaty in the early 1990s. Certain important rules are also to be found in the TEU, the Treaty on European Union, as well as in the Charter of Fundamental Rights (CFR), which is now an integrated part of the Lisbon Treaty. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) stressed that securing the possibility for EU citizens to lead a normal family life was central to realizing and protecting the free movement of EU citizens between the Member States. The right to free movement within the EU that EU citizenship entails no longer necessarily depends on an individual's economic activity.