EU Law and Governance

This chapter sets out to analyse to what extent the role of the individual citizen in Europe, and the rights attached to that status, inform us about the nature of the EU. What does it mean, legally speaking, for someone to be an EU citizen? This chapter distinguishes between different types of citizenship. First, we can trace the emergence of an incipient form of supranational or federal citizenship. Second, we analyse the much more significant transnational citizenship that has been formed. This form of citizenship becomes stronger where the mobile European is economically active, and weaker where the mobile European is economically inactive. The reason for this fragmentation is simple: it aims to protect the national welfare systems. Third, we will look at the legal position of those individuals who find themselves on the EU’s territory without being European citizens, such as British nationals, refugees or third-country national spouses of EU citizens.