EU Citizens Research Articles

Risk of stillbirth and preterm birth among undocumented pregnant migrant women in Denmark: A retrospective case-control study.

To examine the associations between undocumented pregnant migrant women and the risk of experiencing stillbirth or preterm birth. A retrospective case-control study based on nationwide registers from Statistics Denmark and hospital journals from the seven largest hospital wards in Denmark from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2018. A total of 882 undocumented pregnant migrant women and 3528 matched controls (both documented migrant and non-migrant women) were included. Logistic regression models were used to estimate the risk of undocumented pregnant migrant women experiencing (a) stillbirth and (b) preterm birth compared with the control group. Of the undocumented pregnant migrant women, 33.3% were EU citizens, 16.2% were applicants for residence and 50.5% had an unknown basis for residence. The mean age of the undocumented pregnant migrant women was 28.4 years, whereas the mean age of women in the control group was 30.9 years. Higher adjusted odds of experiencing stillbirth (aOR 3.50; 95% CI 1.31-9.38) and preterm birth (aOR 1.41; 95% CI 1.04-1.93) were observed among the undocumented pregnant migrant women compared with the control group. The basis of residence was not associated with higher odds of experiencing stillbirth or preterm birth. We found a higher risk of stillbirth and preterm birth among the undocumented pregnant migrant women than in the control group. Our findings suggest a need to increase the focus on providing access to antenatal care among those women currently excluded from this care.

The politics of EU diaspora in the UK post-Brexit: civic organisations’ multi-scalar lobbying and mobilisation strategies

Focusing on the3million—a major organisation that was formed after the 2016 Brexit Referendum to represent EU citizens in the UK, this article explores the role of online communication in supporting civic actors’ lobbying and mobilisation strategies at local, national and international levels. Apart from multi-scalar dimensions of these civic organisations’ work and of the way EU citizens themselves engage, we identify different strategies of impact. These are inter-linked and performed in a nonlinear fashion and include: emotionalising; politicising; channelling; contesting. These findings elaborate on the way multinational diaspora formation and mobilisation in the 21st century should be conceptualised, and their importance for stakeholder empowerment. We argue that contextual factors—both in terms of the socio-political capital of the people engaged in mobilisation and the features and dynamics of opportunity structures in a particular country and historical moment—are important in understanding why civic actors emerge, how they mobilise and the way their status and focus of their work transforms over time. The article significantly contributes to research studying the use of digital communications and especially e-newsletters and e-mails by non-state actors for mobilising and lobbying purposes.

The vulnerability of in-between statuses: ID and migration controls in the cases of the ‘Windrush generation’ scandal and Brexit

ABSTRACT In this article, I argue that identity documents (ID) and migration statuses are both tools of population control and subjectivities that individuals have an interest in holding. I use documentary analyses and interviews with 31 EU27 citizens in the UK, 21 UK citizens in Belgium and the UK and with nationality bureaucracies in the two countries. States create legitimate, illegitimate and in-between statuses, and in-between statuses show how being exempt from certain ID and migration controls can create paradoxical vulnerabilities. Windrush generation migrants in the UK were exempt from migration controls but then in some cases were treated as irregular migrants because of the lack of proof of status. EU citizens were free from many migration controls, but can have difficulties in naturalization and dealing with new requirements brought about by Brexit because the procedures can require proof of rights usually produced through the migration controls they were exempt from.

Navigating barriers to gender equality in the European Union context: The case of healthcare sector

Context: Progress towards achieving gender equality in the European Union context is reported slow and fragmented, although some achievements have been made. Scholarship has been discuss-ing extensively the gendered barriers, yet their manifestation on a comprehensive and prevalence basis has received scant attention so far. Highlighting the big picture of all (in)visible gendered barriers and their manifestation in relation to countries’ specificity may contribute in understand-ing better the missing link between policy and practice. This study aims firstly, to identify com-prehensively the gendered barriers and their prevalence, and secondly, to gain deeper insights on how a persisting policy problem at the EU and Member States level remained poorly addressed for over two decades. Methods: A mixed methods approach was adopted to ensure the qualitative research quality cri-teria. The systematic literature review, questionnaire and semi-structured interviews methods to obtain and analyze data were included. Qualitative analysis was supplemented by the fundamental tenet of feminist research on the centrality of women. Results: Twenty-six gendered barriers with quantitative logic and varying degree of prevalence were identified and depicted in the Barriers Thematic Map (BTM) across healthcare, academia and business sectors. Twenty and twenty-one gendered barriers in Greek and Maltese healthcare set-tings were found respectively unveiling the country’s specificity in barriers’ manifestation. The sustainable development thinking in gender equality objectives in EU and MS was found suffering from inconsistencies and misplaced priorities. Conclusion: The gendered barriers are multiple, manifest themselves in chorus and with a varying degree of prevalence across sectors and are greatly influenced by country’s specificity. Evidence informed gendered policies respecting national priorities may need to be revisited by policy actors to deliver the promised egalitarian social orderand sustainable future for the EU citizens.

Free movement, Social Citizenship, and the Production of the EU’s legal territory as a “Social Milieu.” Reading the Laval case through Foucault

This paper raises the question of how freedom of movement, attached to EU citizenship, affects forms of social citizenship at the national and at the EU level. It does so through a double analytical lens. It discusses the well-known Laval case through the angle of the category of circulation and “social milieu” as proposed by the work of Michel Foucault. The hypothesis I want to raise in the paper is that there is a need to rethink social citizenship through an understanding of governmentality and territory as shaped by people circulating and producing a social environment, or milieu, at the European level. Specifically, the study deals with the controversies concerning the Laval dispute : it discusses the Posted Workers Directive, the principle of the free movement of workers and services and the Services Directive. It suggests that the encouragement and management of circulations, both of workers and of services, across Member States, as it is visible in the Laval case, ushers in the “becoming territorial” of the EU.

Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus as a De Facto and Limited Recognized State: From Federal Solution to Two State Model

This study covers the history of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) as a de facto state, a status it has held since 1983 after having established its institutional structure in 1975 under the name of the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus (TFSC). The TRNC has unique characteristics when compared with other de facto states. While it is home to EU citizens, it enjoys the support and in fl uence of Turkey as its patron state, which is not member of the European Union. Although the TRNC has been declared an independent state, TRNC leaders pursued a federal solution to reunify the island until E. Tatar was elected president in 2020. The TRNC has another unique characteristic: its civil society tradition is more powerful than opposition political parties and non-governmental organizations, which sometimes clash with the government of Turkey concerning the latter’s policies in the TRNC and the Cyprus question. As the TRNC’s patron state, Turkey shapes its stance on the island in parallel with its relations with the European Union. The lack of any progress on Turkey’s EU membership and uncompromising position of the Greek Cypriot leadership at negotiations in recent decades have pushed Turkey to shift its position on the Cyprus problem. Therefore, after coming to power, Tatar stated that a federal solution is not possible on the island and insisted that a two-state model be implemented with the support of Turkey.

EU Citizens’ Twitter Discussions of the 2022–23 Energy Crisis: A Content and Sentiment Analysis on the Verge of a Daunting Winter

The 2022–2023 winter period is alleged to be one of the toughest since World War II with respect to energy, especially electricity, natural gas and oil. The paper investigates the public discussions on Twitter in five widely spoken European languages and English. Networks of users are formed in order to locate possible important nodes that control the distribution of information. The networks are rather sparse and do not belong to the general class of ‘small worlds’. The communities of users seem to gather around one user; however, users also interact with others within the groups. Regarding the users’ sentiments, the negatives are definitely higher than the positive ones. Sentiments appear to be stable in their scores during the examined period and for each language; fear and sadness are dominant among them. Energy prices are frequently discussed in all languages, along with major political events. Findings may help governments to better understand public views and develop an effective strategy to communicate with and protect EU citizens.

Professional Qualifications Recognition of Doctors in the EU: A Perspective of EU Citizens and Third-Country Nationals


 
 
 
 This article explores the applicable rules in the context of professional qualifications recognition of doctors in the EU. In the pursuit of this examination, it focuses on two groups of individuals, namely EU citizens and third-country nationals, and differentiates between qualifications obtained in the EU and qualifications obtained outside EU. While EU citizens are generally free to pursue their medical profession in any EU Member State, third-country nationals experience difficulties in the recognition of their professional qualifications as they fall outside the scope of specific rules on professional qualifications recognition and do not enjoy free movement rights. The assessment of the applicable rules is followed by a conclusion that the EU citizens are protected under the EU legal framework for the recognition of professional qualifications, however, the legal framework for the recognition of foreign professional qualifications is still absent and depends largely upon general rules applicable to third-country nationals willing to settle and work in the EU.
 
 
 

“To be or not to be an EU citizen?” Who qualifies as an EU citizen in the case law of the CJEU?

“To be or not to be an EU citizen?” Who qualifies as an EU citizen in the case law of the CJEU?

Sports law, sports policy and the amateur athlete

There have been a number of significant papers on the European Court of Justice’s 2019 decision in TopFit v DLV, a preliminary reference which concerns direct nationality discrimination against an amateur athlete. This paper contributes to that knowledge-base by drawing on those contributions but also by setting the case in its historical context to show how it aligns with forty years’ worth of developments in both sports law and sports policy. Furthermore, TopFit illustrates that the potential ramifications of the EU’s sports competence as laid down in Article 165 TFEU might be greater than they first appear. Contrary to the Advocate General’s Opinion, the Court held that direct nationality discrimination laws were applicable to amateur sporting activities – there was no need to establish the existence of economic activity which, fortuitously, Biffi possessed. It thus needs to be considered alongside the wider caselaw on EU citizenship, and the case is not a matter of ‘purely sporting interest.’ But nationality restrictions can still be legitimate if they are deemed to be a proportionate response to a legitimate sporting concern. In any other cultural sphere, the idea that one’s desire to take part in an amateur event might be lawfully ended by ‘proportionate’ discrimination would seem ludicrous. The paper argues that sport’s privileged position within the European Union is a reflection of its ability to leverage its financial muscle and ubiquity, and its concomitant ability to influence policymakers; it does not possess any ‘inherent’ qualities that make it ‘special’ in comparison to other cultural fields.

EU Citizenship: A Double-Edged Sword for European Social Security

EU Citizenship: A Double-Edged Sword for European Social Security

(Non-)Moderating the Migration and Mobility of EU Citizens: A Literature Review

(Non-)Moderating the Migration and Mobility of EU Citizens: A Literature Review

Political equality of EU citizens and the right to vote beyond Delvigne

Political equality of EU citizens and the right to vote beyond Delvigne

Blind man’s buff: Losing contact while coping with the arrival situation

What happens when newly arrived EU citizens lose their point of contact in Germany? Most migrants have a trusted person in the destination area, for example a relative or friends. These people usually help immigrants register, find housing or jobs and offer them a certain degree of security. This essay is about a case in which this contact point is lost early on. A relative withdrew her support and the family had to cope with the arrival situation on their own. The article analyses this individual case against the backdrop of migrating from Romania to Germany. It refers to the legal situation of newly arrived EU citizens in Germany and describes the problems immigrants face in exercising their rights. Adding to migration theory, the article once more emphasises the crucial importance of social capital for the integration process.

The direct influence of citizens of the European community is a chance to reduce dependence on Russian energy resources in the European Union

The aim of the article is to present the direct impact of citizens of the European community on reducing dependence on Russian energy resources in the European Union. For this purpose, an analysis was made of the direct impact of EU citizens in reducing media imported from Russia. Next, the possibility of direct action by citizens and the EU, which can influence the reduction of imported energy carriers from Russia, is analyzed on the example of energy consumption in households and passenger transport

State Liability for Judicial Decisions Infringing EU Law – the Polish Experience

The liability of Member States for damages caused by the issuance of a judicial decision in breach of EU law has been shaped in the jurisprudence of the CJEU, as a mechanism to ensure effective legal protection of EU citizens. Its primary purpose is to ensure that in a situation where a court of a Member State causes damage to a citizen by violating EU laws by its ruling, the citizen has a legal remedy to obtain compensation for such a violation. Based on the principle of procedural autonomy of the Member States, such claims can be asserted on the grounds of national procedural rules under the substantive legal grounds laid down by the CJEU in its case law.Research conducted by the authors of the article indicates that despite more than 18 years of Poland’s presence in the European Union, it is extremely difficult to find rulings on liability for damages for breach of EU law by Polish courts. It seems that such a state of affairs may be caused by ambiguities and interpretative doubts that arise on the grounds of Polish procedure in the case of claims for damages for breach of EU law by the courts. Both in the doctrine and case law there are far-reaching divergences as to whether the pre-judgment provided for in the Polish Civil Code should apply to claims for breach of EU law, and if so, when it should be applied. These doubts are reflected in the scant judicial case law on the issue in question. It seems that the indicated procedural doubts and lack of clarity as to the proper procedure in pursuing such claims may deter parties from more frequent initiation of proceedings to obtain compensation for breach of EU law by a national courts in the Polish context.

London's deportation apparatus: The ‘administrative removal’ of rough sleeping European Union citizens, 2010–17

AbstractBrexit brought an end to the free‐movement rights of EU citizens in the United Kingdom, but the rights of the poorest Europeans were being actively curtailed even before that. From 2010, street homeless EU citizens were deported through a series of pilot schemes operating in London. In 2016, their ‘administrative removal’ was instituted as national policy. Using process‐tracing methodology, we have analysed publicly available documents and others obtained through Freedom of Information requests to assemble an account of how and why a range of ‘stakeholders’ worked together to deport rough‐sleeping EU citizens. Our paper addresses two research questions: (i) what actors contributed to these deportations and (ii) through the use of which analytic framework(s) can we begin to understand the deportation of street homeless foreigners? As we find, London's deportation apparatus involved national and local‐level state actors, homelessness NGOs and local businesses. The deportation of rough‐sleeping EU citizens was a racist biopolitical practice that reflected a concern for ‘hygiene’ at local and national scales, as well as the prevention of ‘harm’ to individual and social bodies.

The rules on foreigners’ right to acquire ownership of agricultural land in Slovenian, Croatian and Serbian law

The paper gives an overview of the rules on the acquisition of ownership of agricultural land by foreigners in Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia. Slovenia and Croatia initiated their accession to the European Union at different times and under different conditions, while Serbia is not yet a member state of the Union, but has been a candidate country for several years, and the harmonization of its national law with the acquis communautaire has been under way for some time. These circumstances determine the right of foreigners, in particular natural persons and legal entities from the European Union, to acquire ownership of agricultural land in these countries. In Slovenia non-EU natural persons and legal entities cannot acquire ownership of agricultural land. In contrast, Slovenia opened its real estate market rather early to EU citizens and legal entities. Only the Association Agreement provided for a transitional period of four years during which they could not acquire ownership of agricultural land. From 2003 onwards, citizens and legal entities from the EU are entitled to acquire land ownership without restriction. The Accession Treaty prescribed no moratorium. Similarly to Slovenia, non-EU natural persons and legal entities may not acquire ownership of agricultural land in Croatia either. The Accession Treaty provided for a seven-year moratorium on the acquisition of ownership of agricultural land by EU citizens and legal entities. The primary moratorium expired on 30 June 2020. However, the EU Commission approved an extension of the moratorium for another three years. Thus, EU citizens and legal entities are still unable to acquire ownership of agricultural land until 30 June 2023. Foreigners’ right to acquire ownership of agricultural land is in general excluded in Serbian law as well. The Stabilization and Association Agreement from 2008 provided for the liberalization of the real estate and land markets for EU citizens and legal entities. However, in 2017 the Serbian legislature amended the Act on Agricultural Land only few days before the expiry of the moratorium on ownership included in the Stabilization and Association Agreement. Nominally, the amendments were intended to introduce explicit regulation on the right of EU citizens and legal entities to acquire ownership of agricultural land, as required by the Stabilization and Association Agreement. However, instead of extending the same conditions applicable to the domestic natural persons and legal entities to those from the EU, the legislator specified additional set of conditions applicable only to the latter. It, in fact, excludes legal entities from the right to acquire property, as they cannot be registered family farmers, and makes the right of natural persons subject to conditions that effectively exclude their acquisition of ownership by 1 September 2027 due to the calculation of deadlines.

Health care services in the European Union – and Hungarian practice

The functioning of the single market is guaranteed by four principles. Under one of them, the free movement of people, EU citizens and their family members can settle down, work and study in the territory of another EU Member State. As the design and operation of social security systems fall within the exclusive competence of the Member States, the enforcement of the coordination between the various social security systems in the Member States is the task of the European Union in order to enforce the rights of EU citizens, thus providing the smooth operation of the free movement of people. Due to the coordination regulation, EU citizens have the right to use the healthcare service of another Member State at the expense of the social security system of the country where the contributions are paid. The study presents the EU and Hungarian rules for accessing healthcare abroad in light of the EU regulations on the coordination of social security systems.

The interactive effect of job skill level and citizenship status on job depression, work engagement and turnover intentions: A moderated mediation model in the context of macro‐level turbulence (of ‘Brexit’)

AbstractThis study examines the role that citizenship plays in moderating the relationship between job‐skill level, work‐related depression, engagement, and turnover‐intentions for UK based employees across 6 months in the year following the Brexit referendum. In two waves of data collection, citizenship moderated the relationship between job‐skill level and depressive states; among EU citizens, those in low skilled jobs experienced greater depressive states than employees in high skilled jobs, this difference was not found among UK citizens. Furthermore, depressive states were subsequently related with low work engagement and high turnover intentions and citizenship moderated the indirect‐effect of job skill on engagement and turnover intentions via depressive states. This study shows that during the turbulent times following the Brexit referendum, EU citizens in the UK with low‐skilled jobs were most affected by depressive states, were subsequently less engaged and showed higher levels of intent to quit.