Third Country National

Abstract

This chapter analyses the individual status of a Third Country National (TCN) from a standpoint which highlights the creation and the conditioning of this status by European institutions and laws. It is divided into two sections. The first discusses TCNs under European Union (EU) law to determine how this individual status has been established through the formation of the EU and is today formally recognised and regulated through EU law. The interplay between EU nationals’ and TCNs’ rights and freedoms is then examined further in the second section which focuses on TCNs’ right to marry in the member state of Malta. This section broadly addresses the clear tension between the universal character of human rights and the systems for their implementation and enforcement within member states; which are mainly national in character and addressed to citizens and this notwithstanding the EU’s accession to the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). More specifically, the interrelationship between TCNs’ rights to marry and to exercise freedom of movement within member states, as well as the constraints which condition their access to such rights, provide a deeper understanding of the juridical implications of the individual status of TCN within the EU.