UNION CITIZENSHIP BASED ON RESIDENCE – WRITING THE FUTURE OR A NIGHTMARE?
UNION CITIZENSHIP BASED ON RESIDENCE – WRITING THE FUTURE OR A NIGHTMARE?

Summary/Abstract: Union citizenship established by the Treaty of Maastricht is a unique institution. It is not useless without any practical meaning for the nationals of the Member States, neither a ‗pie in the sky‘1, an ‗empty shell‘2 or a merely symbolical institution. Union citizens enjoy several rights under the dispositions of the EC Treaty: first of all, they can move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States. They have the right to vote and to stand as a candidate in elections to the European Parliament and in municipal elections in the Member State in which they reside, under the same conditions as nationals of that State. They have the right to diplomatic protection in the territory of a third country (non-EU State) by the diplomatic or the consular authorities of another Member State, if their own country does not have diplomatic representation there, to the same extent as that provided for nationals of that Member State, and they can apply petitions to the European Parliament and complain to the European Ombudsman. According to the case law of the European Court of Justice, the nucleus of this notion is the prohibition of discrimination on the base of nationality. ―Union citizenship is destined to be the fundamental status of nationals of the Member States, enabling those who find themselves in the same situation to enjoy the same treatment in law irrespective of their nationality, subject to such exceptions as are expressly provided for.

• Details
• Contents