European Citizenship Research Articles

Legal Comparison and European Law: Or the Paradigm Shift From a Territorial to a Spatial Viewpoint, in the Prospect of an Open and Cohesive Society Based on European Citizenship As Model of Plural and Inclusive Citizenship

Legal Comparison and European Law: Or the Paradigm Shift From a Territorial to a Spatial Viewpoint, in the Prospect of an Open and Cohesive Society Based on European Citizenship As Model of Plural and Inclusive Citizenship

The Elusive Influence of the Advocate General on the Court of Justice: The Case of European Citizenship

How much influence does the Advocate General (AG) have on the Court? What factors does her influence depend on? To answer these questions, we develop a model of AG influence, distinguishing between implicit and explicit influence, and apply the model to EU citizenship caselaw. We show, first, that two personal characteristics of the AG, career background and seniority, sway the Court to adopt the reasoning and the solution proposed in the opinion. Second, AG influence varies with Court composition: whereas resilient against many institutional and personal factors, the AsG will have less influence on the Grand Chamber. Against this backdrop we argue that AG influence (immediate and delayed) depends mostly on personal features of individual AsG with established reputations but is at the same time limited by institutional factors and the context of judicial decision-making.

On the Margins of Citizenship: The Refugee Crisis and the Transformation of Identities in Europe

Drawing on the notion of the “right to have rights”, the study aims to explore how the European responses in the context of the current so called “refugee crisis”, based on strong inclusion-exclusion mechanisms, as well as the current shortcomings of the international human rights regime can be pertinent for analysing and capturing current transformations of the notion and foundations of European citizenship. It is further suggested that the institution of European citizenship in its current form needs to be superseded, in order to attain a truly cosmopolitan content and to provide a basis for a universalistic human rights regime. The main proposal presented in this direction, stresses the need to rethink human rights in terms of political practices and to “rediscover” the revolutionary heritage of human rights from an Arendtian perspective.

Vaginal birth after caesarean delivery in Chinese women and Western immigrants in Shanghai

Recent studies show a steep rise in caesarean sections in China. Most couples are now eligible to apply for a second child. This retrospective cohort study compares the prevalence of trial of labour and vaginal birth after caesarean section among Chinese and foreign women in Shanghai. In total, 135 of 368 women underwent trial of labour (36.68%), and of those, 77 (57.04%) had a vaginal birth. After inclusion in a multivariate model, factors associated with trial of labour were maternal age <35 years with an adjusted odds ratio of 2.58 (1.49–4.46), absence of a history of ≥3 abortions (2.22 (1.08–4.57)), and European citizenship (1.94 (1.05–3.59)). The prevalence of trial of labour and vaginal birth seems to mirror rates found in countries of origin, but despite a high rate of caesarean section, Chinese women had a higher rate of vaginal birth after caesarean section than North American and Australian women, in particular.Impact statementWhat is already known on this subject:Caesarean section (CS) rates are rising worldwide. Repeat CS contributes largely to these rates, although vaginal birth after CS (VBAC) rates varies widely between countries.What the results of this study add:North American and Australian women who deliver in Shanghai have low rates of attempted trial of labour after CS (TOLAC) and VBAC, with European women having the highest rate of TOLAC, followed by Chinese women.Implications for clinical practice and/or further research:These findings might reflect different levels of acceptance in line with respective national trends. Studies evaluating the influence of cultural norms on birth preferences after CS are needed. Further research is also needed to assess the overall acceptance of TOLAC in the context of the softening of the one-child policy in China.

Die Bürgerschaft der Europäischen Union

The article uses the comparative history of federal systems to interpret the citizenship of the European Union as a form of federal citizenship. The general categories of contemporary citizenship law implicitly refer to centralized states. In order to free ourselves from such unitary concepts, we have to consider the forms of tiered, nested citizenship that have characterized empires, (post) colonial arrangements, and earlier federal systems. Research in comparative federalism is particularly useful here. Thus, the article highlights the beginnings of federal citizenship in the early stages of the United States, Switzerland, and Germany, and stresses parallels with the development of European citizenship. The striking similarities between the citizenship of the early federations and EU citizenship should no longer be overlooked.

Construindo cidadania europeia: Impactos de uma intervenção com jovens em escolas portuguesas

Exploring ways of constructing citizenship, this paper presents data from educational experiencesimplemented in secondary schools, with young people in two intervention‑research projects.Starting with a conceptualization of citizenship and participation and its political framework, the work presented here follows a mixed methodological approach in order to understand how an intervention based on interactive teaching strategies has impact on the interest Portuguese youngsters have in information about and European issues, as well as on how they identify themselves with Europe and how they value different dimensions of European citizenship. Findings reveal the importance of this type ofstrategy, since its effectiveness becomes observable. We verified a positive increase in the valuing of European citizenship dimensions, specifically those related to wider active civic involvement, greater levels of expression of identification with Europe and an amplified interest in European issues, namely in terms of news consumption and conversation with others about these same issues, variables that areimportantly proven as predictors of future participation of these young people.

ヨーロッパ機関（EU・CE）におけるヨーロッパ市民教育

ヨーロッパ機関（EU・CE）におけるヨーロッパ市民教育

The Stratification of Citizenship in Europe: Citizenship Versus Irregularity

Citizenship functions not only to connect the individual to the sovereign state, but acts to induce feelings of belonging to a certain society. In this scope, managing the irregularity of migrants positions citizenship as a form of gatekeeping, controlling access to society and restraining those who seek it from accessing social membership.In this article, I outline the process by which European stratified citizenship has resulted in the loss of access to rights. This outline will serve to demonstrate how irregularity management strategies, be they high intensity criminalisation strategies as reflected throughout the EU or low intensity with integration measures as seen in Portugal, cumulate in the denial (or concession) of certain categories of people from citizenship.https://doi.org/10.14195/1647-6336_15_6

European Citizenship after Brexit

This paper investigates European citizenship after Brexit, in light of the functionalist theory of citizenship. No matter its shape, Brexit will impact significantly on what has been labelled as ‘one of the major achievements of EU integration’: citizenship of the Union. For the first time an automatic and collective lapse of status is observed – a form of involuntary loss of citizenship en masse, ex lege, for EU citizens of exclusively British nationality that, however, does not create statelessness and is likely to be tolerated under international law. This loss of citizenship is connected to a reduction of rights, affecting not solely the former Union citizens but also current Union citizens, such as second country nationals in the United Kingdom and their family members. The paper comes in six sections. The first section sets the problem of legal uncertainty afflicting second country nationals in the United Kingdom and British citizens turning from expats to post-European third country nationals. The second section explains why a theoretically informed inquiry is needed. The third section describes the theory and delineates three ways in which it applies to Brexit. These three directions of inquiry are developed in the following sections. The fourth section focuses on the intention of Union citizenship: Which rights can be frozen? The fifth section determines the extension of Union citizenship: Who gets to withdraw the status? The key finding is that while Member States are in principle free to revoke the status of Union citizen, former Member States are not unbounded in stripping Union citizens of their acquired territorial rights. In the final section some conclusions as to the nature of Union citizenship are drawn. Policy-suggestions are summed up in a table at the end.

“The cuts, they trimmed the people” – School children, precarity and European citizenship

Recently, the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (2012) have funded programmes designed to advance European citizenship and citizen competences through education. This paper reports on the findings from one project, Creative Connections, designed to encourage the “voices” of young people in exploring European identities.Children (aged 9–16) in 25 schools in six European Union (EU) countries (UK, Finland, Spain, Czech Republic, Portugal and Ireland) developed artworks that explored perceptions of European citizenship. Their art was posted on a secure website and they discussed images with peers using automatic online translated blogs. The project facilitated representations of identity/belonging using a range of media. However, some artworks suggested that children were alienated from “Europe”, particularly EU responses to global austerity. This paper uses the theory of precarity to examine the ways in which the children expressed their concerns.Some artworks suggest that recent economic and political decisions have had the effect of challenging a sense of shared European citizenship; they resist a positive sense of identification with Europe and demonstrate fear for their future based on their current lives. This indicates that the EU’s educational goals to promote citizenship competences may require revision to account for the challenges of contemporary societies.

Tratamientos a la población inmigrante en escuelas de nivel medio de Buenos Aires

Objetivo: analizar los tratamientos que los docentes de dos escuelas públicas de nivel medio, ubicadas en un barrio de la zona sur de Buenos Aires, construyen respecto de los estudiantes bolivianos y paraguayos que asisten a ellas.Metodología: el trabajo de campo y el análisis de la información recabada se desarrollaron desde una perspectiva etnográfica y comparativa que atienden a numerosas diferencias relativas a las experiencias formativas que tienen lugar en cada una de las escuelas visitadas.Resultados: se señala la pervivencia de prácticas asimilacionistas, la constitución de prácticas de tipo afectivo y la ausencia de prácticas de tipo multicultural, ampliamente difundidas en las escuelas primarias.Conclusiones: más allá de las transformaciones económicas, políticas, sociales y culturales ocurridas a través de la historia, las prácticas educativas asimilacionistas permancen vigentes. En ocasiones, las buenas intenciones de algunos docentes, que manifiestan reconocer la diversidad cultural presente en los espacios escolares, acaban por generar situaciones de marcación del otro que profundizan las situacionesde estigmatización a jóvenes con diversas pertenencias étnicas y orígenes nacionales.

Migración y crisis como factor de riesgo en el retroceso del imaginario romántico de una sociedad mestiza y multicultural

Introducción: se analiza cómo está afectando el contexto actual de crisis económica los discursos y las propuestas sociales, políticas y educativas sobre la interculturalidad en el ámbito español y europeo. Se indaga si el proyecto de interculturalidad que se proclama en los discursos educativos es posible en el actual modelo de ciudadanía europea que se está construyendo y se plantea si es posible construir real y efectivamente una sociedad mestiza como se proclama en los discursos públicos en una sociedad que está consolidando un muro defensivo estructural de carácter mental, social, laboral, económico, político y legal frente a la diversidad y la diferencia.Materiales y métodos: la mayor parte de los supuestos conflictos de diferencia cultural tienen que ser abordados desde la perspectiva previa de conflictos de intereses sobre la distribución de la riqueza, la participación en el poder, las condiciones para esa participación y distribución, comenzando por la reparación de las situaciones heredadas de discriminación y dominación.Resultados: el proyecto intercultural, hoy por hoy, máxime en un contexto de crisis, es inútil, estéril, poco viable porque le falta condiciones y eso no es responsabilidad de las instituciones y organizaciones que trabajan en él, sino de los responsables políticos, porque sin presupuestos es inviable.Conclusiones: la clave radica en evitar el anclaje de la ciudadanía en la nacionalidad (tanto por nacimiento como por naturalización), una identidad que pone de relieve la incapacidad de la propuesta liberal para superar las raíces etnoculturales del pretendido modelo republicano de ciudadanía.

Citizenship and the economic crisis in Europe: An introduction

Abstract This article analyses the changing nature of Active and Participatory Citizenship in Europe during the period of the financial crisis from 2008–2015 and introduces the special issue which has a focus on this topic. This article and the accompanying special issue shed light on the current critical situation in Europe, how we got here and provides critical insights on where we may be headed. The findings of the research show that during the period of the economic crisis the European Union (EU) was seen to take a leadership role championing austerity and neoliberal economic policies whilst many of its citizens suffered and began to lose trust in the EU, its institutions and leaders. National politicians often successfully shifted blame to the EU for domestic policies that made citizens and public services suffer in the name of austerity for recovery. At the same time, Active and Participatory Citizenship policies received major cuts to funding, as part of the austerity drive, and were no longer considered a policy priority at both the European and the national level as concerns about mounting unemployment and a skills crisis took over. In addition, there was a general policy shift from cosmopolitan European Citizenship to a more nationalistic and, reactive citizenship driven by responses to pressing social issues such as extremism, radicalisation, migration and violence. The article concludes that in order to maintain the European project the Active and Participatory agenda needs to urgently be restored to give people a sense of belonging and ownership of Europe.

Erasmus student mobility and the construction of European citizenship

The Erasmus student mobility programme allocates three explicit objectives to the experience of spending a few months studying in another European country: (1) to benefit students educationally, linguistically and culturally; (2) to promote co-operation between institutions and (3) to contribute to the development of a pool of well-qualified, open-minded and internationally experienced future professionals [European Commission. 1996. The Obstacles to Transnational Mobility. Green Paper. http://aei.pitt.edu/1226/1/education_mobility_obstacles_gp_COM_96_462.pdf (accessed April, 2015)]. The programme has also sometimes been referred to as one of the most powerful tools of European integration. However, little research has so far been undertaken on how it may alter students’ attitudes towards aspects of European identity and sense of European citizenship. Our study investigates the extent to which the Erasmus experience affects the sense of self as European citizens of a cohort of students from the University of Lleida (Catalonia, Spain). It also explores the students’ position towards the notion of European citizenship and how this relates to the development of their plurilingual competence. Two questionnaires, one before and one after the study-abroad experience, provided quantitative data while qualitative data were obtained through the analysis of discussion groups focusing on aspects of European vs. national identity and citizenship.

European Citizenship and EU Immigration: A Demoi‐cratic Bridge between the Third Country Nationals' Right to Belong and the Member States' Power to Exclude

AbstractEuropean citizenship entails, for EU nationals, a right to belong across borders. This article questions the implications of this latter right for the status of third country nationals in the EU. It contributes to address a gap between the literature on European citizenship and the literature on the admission and civic integration of third country nationals. The article begins by tracing a disconnect in the rules and narratives on admission and naturalisation of third country nationals in the EU. This is a disconnect between logics of individual rights protection, which European citizenship infiltrates, and logics of state sovereignty and governmental discretion, which otherwise dominate relevant rules and narratives. The article relies on the political science literature on mutual recognition and demoicracy to reinterpret European citizenship's norm of belonging across borders so as to reconcile the disconnect. Ultimately, the theoretical bridge that the article draws between citizenship narratives and immigration narratives offers a novel perspective on the tension between liberal values and integration discourses in Europe. It also sets out a possible frame to begin rethinking rules of engagement and cooperation in the context of the EU common immigration policy.

European Citizenship and the Right to Reside: ‘No One on the Outside has a Right to be Inside?’

AbstractThis paper deals with the question: Who ought not to be excluded from the enjoyment of European citizenship rights? Recently, the Court of Justice has ruled that, in exceptional situations, the ‘genuine enjoyment of the substance of rights attaching to European citizenship’ can be invoked in order to also extend legal protection to specific categories of third country nationals. I will argue that the ‘genuine enjoyment’ formula is not only setting an innovative jurisdictional test concerning European citizenship rights, but that it is also highlighting how the traditional account of citizenship (from status to rights) can be conceptually reversed. This happens in threshold cases, where the tenability of the schema of distribution of rights, agreed within a political community, depends on the possibility to readjust the boundaries of political membership.

Brexiting European Citizenship through the Voice of Others

The British vote on 23rdJune, opting by a rather slim majority to leave the European Union, has sent waves of uncertainty rippling through the island and the continent, as well as through some milestones of European integration. One of these is European citizenship. Paradoxically, it receives a hard shake at the hand of national citizenships, exercised through a referendum.

Displacement of European citizen Roma in Berlin: acts of citizenship and sites of contentious politics

This article reflects on the tensions and anomalies of European citizenship from the perspective of European Union (EU)-citizen Roma, people who have an ambiguous positioning within the EU space because they are both European citizens, but also located as ‘in but not of the EU space.’ On the basis of events, discourses and negotiations surrounding the displacement of EU-citizen Roma in Berlin in 2009, this article explores how the borders of European citizenship are policed. The paper examines how the flattening of the inner EU political space is achieved through a set of semantic tactics, as well as extra-legal means, and how the desire of EU-citizen Roma to become asylum seekers becomes an act of citizenship constituting them as claimants of rights beyond their legal status and thus a threat to the social and political space of the EU. The article draws attention to the mutual constitution of sites and acts of citizenship.

Europeanisation and Secularisation of Immigrant Muslims in Western Europe

Every society produces its own concept of otherness. It is a universal fact, necessary for the social cohesion of the majority group. In recent decades, along with the development of a European consciousness and citizenship, the concept of ‘other’ relating to immigration is largely imposed on Muslims in Western Europe. There are historical reasons for this social enmity that trace their roots back to the Middle Ages and to nineteenth century colonialism. However, other contemporary reasons have reinforced these mind-sets; some of which are international events (e.g. the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Iranian revolution, the wars in Iraq and Syria, international terror of Islamic inspiration, and so on). These facts have – at least since 11 September 2001 – made the expression of Islamophobic opinions politically and morally more acceptable in Europe.

The Elusive Influence of the Advocate General on the Court of Justice: The Case of European Citizenship

How much influence does the Advocate General (AG) have on the Court? What factors does her influence depend on? To answer these questions, we develop a model of AG influence, distinguishing between implicit and explicit influence, and apply the model to EU citizenship caselaw. We show, first, that two personal characteristics of the AG, career background and seniority, sway the Court to adopt the reasoning and the solution proposed in the opinion. Second, AG influence varies with Court composition: whereas resilient against many institutional and personal factors, the AsG will have less influence on the Grand Chamber. Against this backdrop we argue that AG influence (immediate and delayed) depends mostly on personal features of individual AsG with established reputations but is at the same time limited by institutional factors and the context of judicial decision-making.