Citizenship of the European Union

EU member states use a common passport design, burgundy coloured with the name of the member state, Coat of Arms and the title "European Union" (and/or its translation).

Citizenship of the European Union was introduced by the Maastricht Treaty, which was signed in 1992, and has been in force since 1993. European citizenship is supplementary to national citizenship and affords rights such as the right to vote in European elections, the right to free movement, settlement and employment across the EU, and the right to consular protection from other EU states' embassies when a person's country of citizenship does not maintain an embassy or consulate in the country they need protection in.

History

EU citizenship as a distinct concept was first introduced by the Maastricht Treaty, and was extended by the Treaty of Amsterdam. Prior to the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, the European Communities treaties provided guarantees for the free movement of economically active persons, but not, generally, for others. The 1951 Treaty of Paris establishing the European Coal and Steel Community established a right to free movement for workers in these industries and the 1957 Treaty of Rome provided for the free movement of workers and services.

However, the Treaty provisions were interpreted by the European Court of Justice not as having a narrow economic purpose, but rather a wider social and economic purpose. In Levin, the Court found that the "freedom to take up employment was important, not just as a means towards the creation of a single market for the benefit of the Member State economies, but as a right for the worker to raise her or his standard of living". Under the ECJ caselaw, the rights of free movement of workers applies regardless of the worker's purpose in taking up employment abroad, to both part-time and full-time work, and whether or not the worker required additional financial assistance from the Member State into which he moves. Since, the ECJ has held that a recipient of service has free movement rights under the treaty and this criterion is easily fulfilled, effectively every national of an EU country within another Member State, whether economically active or not, had a right under Article 12 of the European Community Treaty to non-discrimination even prior to the Maastricht Treaty.

In Martinez Sala, the European Court of Justice held that the citizenship provisions provided substantive free movement rights in addition to those already granted by Union law.

Stated rights

Historically, the main benefits of being a citizen of an EU state has been that of free movement. The free movement also applies to the citizens of European Economic Area states and Switzerland. However with the creation of EU citizenship, certain political rights came into being. The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union provides for citizens to be "directly represented at Union level in the European Parliament", and "to participate in the democratic life of the Union" (Treaty on the European Union, Title II, Article 10). Specifically, the following rights are afforded;

Political rights

• Voting in European elections: a right to vote and stand in elections to the European Parliament, in any EU member state (Article 22)
• Voting in municipal elections: a right to vote and stand in local elections in an EU state other than their own, under the same conditions as the nationals of that state (Article 22)
• Accessing European government documents: a right to access to European Parliament, Council, and Commission documents (Article 15).
• Petitioning Parliament and the Ombudsman: the right to petition the European Parliament and the right to apply to the European Ombudsman in order to bring to his attention any cases of poor administration by the EU institutions and bodies, with the exception of the legal bodies (Article 24)
• Linguistic rights: the right to apply to the EU institutions in one of the official languages and to receive a reply in that same language (Article 24).

Rights of free movement

• Right to free movement and residence: a right of free movement and residence throughout the Union and the right to work in any position (including national civil services with the exception of those posts in the public sector that involve the exercise of powers conferred by public law and the safeguard of general interests of the State or local authorities (Article 21) for which however there is no one single definition);
• Freedom from discrimination on nationality: a right not to be discriminated against on grounds of nationality within the scope of application of the Treaty (Article 18);

Rights abroad

• Right to consular protection: a right to protection by the diplomatic or consular authorities of other Member States when in a non-EU Member State, if there are no diplomatic or consular authorities from the citizen's own state (Article 23): this is due to the fact that not all member states maintain embassies in every country in the world (16 countries have only one embassy from an EU state).

Free movement rights

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Article 21 Freedom to move and reside

Article 21 (1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union states that

Every citizen of the Union shall have the right to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States, subject to the limitations and conditions laid down in this Treaty and by the measures adopted to give it effect.

The European Court of Justice has remarked that,

EU Citizenship is destined to be the fundamental status of nationals of the Member States

The ECJ has held that this Article confers a directly effective right upon citizens to reside in another Member State. Before the case of Baumbast, it was widely assumed that non-economically active citizens had no rights to residence deriving directly from the EU Treaty, only from directives created under the Treaty. In Baumbast, however, the ECJ held that (the then) Article 18 of the EC Treaty granted a generally applicable right to residency, which is limited by secondary legislation, but only where that secondary legislation is proportionate. Member States can distinguish between nationals and Union citizens but only if the provisions satisfy the test of proportionality. Migrant EU citizens have a "legitimate expectation of a limited degree of financial solidarity... having regard to their degree of integration into the host society" Length of time is a particularly important factor when considering the degree of integration.

The ECJ's case law on citizenship has been criticised for subjecting an increasing number of national rules to the proportionality assessment.

Article 45 Freedom of movement to work

Article 45 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union states that

1. Freedom of movement for workers shall be secured within the Union.
2. Such freedom of movement shall entail the abolition of any discrimination based on nationality between workers of the Member States as regards employment, remuneration and other conditions of work and employment.

State employment reserved exclusively for nationals varies between member states. For example, training as a barrister in Britain and Ireland is not reserved for nationals, while the corresponding French course qualifies one as a 'juge' and hence can only be taken by French citizens. However, it is broadly limited to those roles that exercise a significant degree of public authority, such as judges, police, the military, diplomats, senior civil servants or politicians. Note that not all Member States choose to restrict all of these posts to nationals.

Much of the existing secondary legislation and case law was consolidated in the Citizens' Rights Directive 2004/38/EC on the right to move and reside freely within the EU.

Limitations

New member states may undergo transitional regimes, during which their nationals only enjoy restricted access to labour markets in other member states. EU member states are permitted to keep restrictions on citizens of the newly acceded countries for a maximum of seven years after accession. For the EFTA states (Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway and Switzerland), the maximum is nine years.

In the 2004 enlargement, three "old" member states—Ireland, Sweden and the United Kingdom—decided to allow unrestricted access to their labour markets. By December 2009, all but two member states—Austria and Germany—had completely dropped controls. These restrictions too expired on 1 May 2011.

Following the 2007 enlargement, all pre-2004 member states except Finland and Sweden imposed restrictions on Bulgarian and Romanian citizens, as did two member states that joined in 2004: Malta and Hungary. As of November 2012, all but 8 EU countries have dropped restrictions entirely. The last must expire on 1 January 2014. Norway opened its labour market in June 2012, while Switzerland and Lichtenstein may keep restrictions in place until 2016.

It is expected that some countries will implement restrictions on Croatian nationals following the country's EU accession on 1 July 2013. The UK Home Office has announced a bill to this effect.

Acquisition

There is no common EU policy on the acquisition of European citizenship as it is supplementary to national citizenship (one cannot be an EU citizen without being a national of a member state). Article 20 (1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union states that:

"Citizenship of the Union is hereby established. Every person holding the nationality of a Member State shall be a citizen of the Union. Citizenship of the Union shall be additional to and not replace national citizenship."

While nationals of Member States are citizens of the union, "It is for each Member State, having due regard to Union law, to lay down the conditions for the acquisition and loss of nationality." As a result, there is a great variety in rules and practices with regard to the acquisition and loss of citizenship in EU member states.

Thus in practice, a member state may withhold EU citizenship from certain groups of citizens — namely some in overseas territories of member states outside the EU. One example would be the Faroe Islands of Denmark which, while are part of Denmark, are outside the EU and do not have EU citizenship.

Summary of 27 member states' nationality laws

This is a summary of nationality laws for each of the 27 EU member states.

Member State		Acquisition by birth	Acquisition by descent	Acquisition by marriage	Acquisition by naturalisation	Multiple nationality permitted
Austria		Persons born in Austria: whose a parent at least is Austrian citizen out of wedlock and whose mother is Austrian citizen who is foundling and is found out under the age of 6 months	Austrian nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions: Conditions  born to Austrian parents born after January 9, 1983 and if parents are married at the time of birth, Austrian citizenship of either the mother or the father is sufficient born before or on January 9, 1983: father must have been an Austrian citizen; children born to an Austrian mother married to a non-Austrian father do not qualify. If parents are not married, however, a father cannot pass on Austrian citizenship, whereas a mother can should the parents happen to marry at some time after birth, citizenship is automatically granted to child retroactively. If the child is over 14 at that time, child's consent is needed.	6 years' residence if married for at least 5 years	10 years' residence	No
Belgium		Persons born in Belgium who: are stateless are foundlings lose any other nationality before 18 have a parent born in Belgium have a birth or adopted parent resident in Belgium for at least 5 of the past 10 years	Belgian nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions: Belgian citizen father	Yes—after 3 years cohabitation in Belgium	3 years' residence—can petition federal government 7 years' residence—automatic by request at city hall 2 years' residence (political refugees and stateless persons)	Yes
Bulgaria		Persons born in Bulgaria who: are stateless are foundlings	Bulgarian nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions: Conditions  At least one parent is a Bulgarian citizen Any person of Bulgarian ethnicity; Also, member of a historical Bulgarian ethnic community (e.g. in Ukraine, Moldova) (no limit on number of generations).	No	Holders of a Bulgarian permanent residence permit for at least 5 years	Yes
Cyprus		Persons born in Cyprus who: are stateless are foundlings		3 years' residence	5 years' residence	Yes
Czech Republic		Persons born in the Czech Republic: who are foundlings whose parents are both stateless, and at least one of whom is a Czech permanent resident		No	Holders of a Czech permanent residence permit for at least 5 years	No (unless the non-Czech citizenship is obtained by birth or by marriage)
Denmark		Persons born in Denmark who: are foundlings	Danish nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions: The child's mother is a Danish citizen; The child's father is a Danish citizen and the parents are married;	6 years' residence if married for at least 3 years	9 years' residence (holders of a permanent residence permit) 8 years' residence (refugees and stateless persons)	No
Estonia		Persons born in Estonia who: are stateless are foundlings		No (unless married to an Estonian citizen before 26 February 1992)	8 years' residence	No (although Estonian citizens by descent cannot be deprived of their Estonian citizenship)
Finland		Persons born in Finland who: are stateless, or are foundlings	Finnish nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions: Conditions  The child's mother is a Finnish citizen; the child's father is a Finnish citizen and the parents are married; the child's father who died before the child was born was a Finnish citizen and who was married to the child's mother at the time of his death; or the child's father, who died before the birth of the child, was a Finnish citizen and the child was born in Finland out of wedlock and the father's paternity was established.	Minimum residence requirement of four years of residence.	Five years of residence (or a total of seven years of residence since age 15) in Finland; and knowledge of at least one of Finnish, Swedish or Finnish sign language. Reductions apply under certain conditions.	Yes
France		At birth, persons born in France who: are stateless, or have a parent born in France At 13, persons born in France upon the parent's request. At 16, persons born in France upon their own request. At 18, persons born in France who: have resided in France for at least 5 years since 11[citation needed]	French nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions: Through parentage (right of blood): The child (legitimate or natural) is French if at least one parent is French.	5 years' marriage;also, after 4 years outside France	Holders of a French permanent residence permit for at least 5 years' residence No residence (former citizens with conditions)	Yes
Germany		Persons born in Germany, if at least one parent has resided in Germany for at least 8 years and holds a permanent residence permit	German nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions: Member of recognized historical German community abroad (e.g. in the Balkans, Kazakhstan); Also granted to children/grandchildren of those deprived of citizenship by the Nuremberg Laws	2 years of marriage and 3 years of continuous residence in Germany	8 years' residence 7 years' residence (if an integration course has been completed) 6 years' residence (if especially well integrated and has a very high command of the German language, or a refugee or stateless person) No residence (victims of Nazi persecution)	No, unless: Conditions  the non-German citizenship is obtained by birth the non-German citizenship is of an EU country or Switzerland and obtained by naturalisation the non-German citizenship is obtained by naturalisation and permission has been granted by the German authorities German citizenship is obtained by naturalisation by a refugee German citizenship is obtained by naturalisation and permission has been granted by the German authorities to keep the non-German citizenship under § 12 StAG
Greece		Persons born in Greece who: have a parent born in Greece are foundlings are stateless	Greek nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions: Member of recognized historical Greek community abroad in countries of ex-USSR Ethnic Greek of different citizenship accepted to military academiew, or inscribes to serve to the army, or enlists as a volunteer in time of war	3 years of continuous residence in Greece and has an offspring from the marriage	10 years residence in the last 12 years 5 years residence in the last 12 years for refugees Sufficient knowledge of Greek language, Greek history, and Greek culture in general Athlete of an Olymbic Sport, with 5 years residence in the last 12 years, who fulfills the conditions of being a member of the Greek National Team of that sport, as these are stated by the international laws for that sport	Yes
Hungary		Persons born in Hungary who:	Conditions  Hungarian nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions: At least one parent is a Hungarian citizen Any person of Hungarian ethnicity; In practice, this means speaking Hungarian, and demonstrating at least one ancestor born in the Kingdom of Hungary (no limit on number of generations).	After 3 years	After 8 years and meeting conditions of good character	Yes
Ireland		Persons born in Ireland who:	Irish nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions: Person with a parent who was an Irish citizen registered in the Irish national Birth Register at the time of the child's birth (in practice, this means citizenship cannot be passed down from grandparents if the parents were not registered before the grandchild's birth)			Yes
Italy		Persons born in Italy who: have a parent born in Italy are foundlings are stateless	Italian nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions: Conditions  (Rules are in place that permit the recognition of Italian nationality for many members of the Italian diaspora, even generations after departure. The rules are complex.) Citizenship was accorded ethnic Italians born in the territory only in/after 1863. After this, Italian citizen fathers could pass down citizenship. Mothers pass down citizenship only for children born in/after 1948. A child gaining another citizenship by birth may also gain Italian citizenship by parentage, with no interference. If such a child is an Italian citizen, he/she can pass on citizenship subject to the rules above, like any other Italian citizen. A person naturalizing to a foreign state loses the right to pass on citizenship to any children he/she may have after naturalization. A father's later naturalization also retroactively annulled the child's citizenship if the child was born before 1910.	2 years of legal residence in Italy (3 years if living abroad) through naturalisation	10 years' residence, no criminal record and sufficient financial resources 7 years' residence for children adopted by Italian citizens 5 years' residence for refugees or stateless individuals 4 years' residence for EU member states nationals 3 years' residence for descendants of Italian grandparents and for foreigners born in Italy	Yes
Latvia		Persons born in Latvia who:	Latvian nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions:		After 5 years of permanent residence	No, unless: people who have applied for citizenship before the Latvian Citizenship law of 1995 are eligible to have dual citizenship. Also, recently Latvian Saeima is working on the new Citizenship Law that will allow dual citizenship.
Lithuania		Persons born in Lithuania who: are stateless.	Lithuanian nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions: at least one parent is a Lithuanian citizen at least one direct ancestor was Lithuanian citizen during the period of 1918-1940.	7 years of permanent residence and demonstrating language ability		No
Luxembourg		Persons born in Luxembourg who: are stateless, or are foundlings, or have a parent born in Luxembourg		No	7 consecutive years' residence	Yes
Malta		Persons born in Malta who:	Maltese nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions:
Netherlands		Persons born in Netherlands who:	Dutch nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions: Persons with a Dutch parent	3 years of residence and demonstrating language ability	After 5 years uninterrupted residence, with continuous registration in the municipal register	Under certain conditions: e.g. foreign citizenship may be kept in the event of naturalization via marriage.
Poland		Persons born in Poland who:	Polish nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions: Conditions  Certain descendants of Polish citizens, even after multiple generations, can apply for recognition: Polish citizenship begins 1920. Acquisition of foreign citizenship prior to 1951 led to the loss of Polish nationality. After this, any Polish citizen transmits nationality to all his/her children and nationality is only lost by explicit request. These children can pass on nationality as well. Descendants of Polish-language/ethnic persons in some neighboring countries including Belarus, Lithuania, Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine et al., can apply for Karta Polaka which gives many of the same rights as Polish citizenship but serves as a substitute when acquisition of Polish citizenship would result in the loss of the person's earlier citizenship.	Yes	3 years of residence with permanent residence permit card under the condition of speaking polish language 2 years of residence with permanent residence permit card under the condition of having polish ethnicity	Yes but in Poland, Polish identification must be used and the dual citizen is treated legally as only Polish
Portugal		Persons born in Portugal who: are stateless are foundlings have a birth parent resident in Portugal for at least 10 years on a valid residence permit have a birth parent with citizenship of a Lusophone country and resident in Portugal for at least 6 years on a valid residence permit	Portuguese nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions: Certain descendants of Portuguese citizens can apply for recognition. This is common in former colonies like Brazil.	3 years of marriage	10 years' residence 6 years' residence (for citizens of a Lusophone country)	Yes
Romania		Persons born in Romania who: are foundlings have Romanian parents	Romanian nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions: Conditions  Persons with a Romanian ancestor up to 3 generations back may be eligible for citizenship: Persons with at least one parent, grandparent or great-grandparent, born anytime before 1940 in a location that was in the Kingdom of Romania between 1918 and 1940 (including Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina) and can demonstrate competence in the Romanian language, are eligible for restoration of citizenship. Persons with a parent or grandparent still registered as a Romanian citizen, may apply for clarification of their own citizenship. Romanian citizenship is NOT automatically lost by naturalization to a foreign country.	5 years' residence in Romania	8 years' residence 4 years' residence (EU citizens)	Yes
Slovakia		Persons born in Slovakia who:	Slovak nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions:	After 5 years' residence in Slovakia, and living in Slovakia without any immigration restrictions at the time of application	6 years' residence (the last year of which without any immigration restrictions)	No
Slovenia		A child born in Slovenia is a Slovenian citizen if either parent is a Slovenian citizen. Where the child is born outside Slovenia the child will be automatically Slovenian if: both parents are Slovenian citizens; or one parent is Slovenian and the other parent is unknown and/or of unknown citizenship the other is stateless. A person born outside Slovenia with one Slovenian parent who is not Slovenian automatically may acquire Slovenian citizenship through: an application for registration as a Slovenian citizen made at any time before age 36; or taking up permanent residence in Slovenia before age 18. Children adopted by Slovenian citizens may be granted Slovenian citizenship.	Slovenian nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions: A person of "Slovenian origin" up to the fourth generation in direct descent or a former Slovenian citizen may be naturalised without any residence requirements.	A person who is married to a Slovenian citizen for at least two years may be naturalised after one year's residence in Slovenia	A total of 10 years residence in Slovenia, including 5 years continuous residence before the application	Dual citizenship is generally permitted in Slovenia, except for certain persons seeking to become Slovenian citizens by naturalisation they are to renounce any foreign citizenship (the requirement to renounce foreign citizenship may be waived upon special application).
Spain		Persons born in Spain who: are stateless, or are foundlings	Children of Spanish citizens	1 year of marriage and residence in Spain	10 years' residence 5 years' residence (refugees) 2 years' residence (for nationals of Iberoamerica, Andorra, Philippines, Equatorial Guinea, Portugal, or if the individual is a Sephardi Jew) 1 year's residence (persons born in Spain)	Yes (if a Spanish citizen by descent/origin) No (if a naturalised Spanish citizen, unless from Iberoamerica, Andorra, Philippines, Equatorial Guinea or Portugal)
Sweden		Persons born in Sweden who: are stateless, or are foundlings (cancelled if parents found)	Swedish nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions: Conditions  Person: whose mother is a Swedish citizen, or born in Sweden whose father is a Swedish citizen whose father is a Swedish citizen and married to the mother (also later marriage)	3 years' marriage in case residing in Sweden, 10 years in case living abroad with a Swedish spouse and has 'strong ties' to Sweden, by family visits and such	5 years normal residence permit(not the time limited residence/work-permit) and must hold Swedish permanent residence permit at the time of applying or person with a visa intended for settlement in Sweden with 5 years residence in Sweden.	Yes
United Kingdom		Persons born in United Kingdom who:	British nationality is acquired by descent under one of the following conditions: see: "British by descent"	6 years' residence (the last year of which without any immigration restrictions)	6 years' residence (the last year of which without any immigration restrictions)	Yes

Danish opt-out

Further information: Opt-outs in the European Union

Denmark obtained four opt-outs from the Maastricht Treaty following the treaty's initial rejection in a 1992 referendum. The opt-outs are outlined in the Edinburgh Agreement and concern the EMU (as above), the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) and the citizenship of the European Union. The citizenship opt-out stated that European citizenship did not replace national citizenship; this opt-out was rendered meaningless when the Amsterdam Treaty adopted the same wording for all members. The policy of recent Danish governments has been to hold referenda to abolish these opt outs, including formally abolishing the citizenship opt out which is still technically active even if redundant.

See also

• Passport of the European Union
• National identity cards in the European Union
• European Citizens' Initiative
• European citizens' consultations
• Europe for Citizens
• Four Freedoms (European Union)

Further reading

• Maas, Willem (2007). Creating European Citizens. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-7425-5485-6; ISBN 978-0-7425-5486-3 (paperback) . 
• Meehan, Elizabeth (1993). Citizenship and the European Community. London: Sage. ISBN 978-0-8039-8429-5. 
• O'Leary, Síofra (1996). The Evolving Concept of Community Citizenshippublisher=Kluwer Law International. The Hague. ISBN 978-90-411-0878-4. 
• Soysal, Yasemin (1994). Limits of Citizenship. Migrants and Postnational Membership in Europe. University of Chicago Press. 
• Wiener, Antje (1998). 'European' Citizenship Practice: Building Institutions of a Non-State. Boulder: Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-3689-9. 
• European Commission. "Right of Union citizens and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States". 

External links

• EU Citizenship, European Commission Directorate-General for Justice
• EUDO Citizenship Observatory