Brexit and citizenship: between the EU and the UK
This
week the posts center on European Union law and the fundamental freedoms that
the United Kingdom (and therefore, Northern Ireland, Gibraltar) will leave
behind after Brexit. After introducing very briefly the four fundamental
freedoms the posts focus on free movement of persons and European Union citizenship.
Next week the posts will introduce free movement of persons, workers, and
social advantages (including the highly controversial and usually misunderstood
issue about benefits).
Four Fundamental Freedoms
Originally, the principal aim
of European Economic Community (ECC) was to achieve a greater economic
integration via the creation of common market involving abolition of obstacles
or restrictions on free movements of goods, services, workers, and capital.
Nowadays,
Art. 26(2) TFEU defines internal
(common/single) market as area without frontiers in which there is free
movement of goods, persons, services, and capital.
Note the subtle but important difference between the
original four fundamental freedoms (which referred only to workers in the case
of people) and the current text that refers to persons.
Free Movement of Persons
Citizenship
There
is no mention of European citizenship in initial European Community Treaty.
Originally the recognized free movement principle (of workers) was linked to
narrow economic objective of attaining common market.
With
time, workers, self-employed persons, providers and recipients of services were
gradually conceived as something more than factors of production.
A-G.
Trabucci in F v Belgium (7/75):
“the migrant worker is not regarded by
Community law as a mere source of labour but is viewed as a human being.”
The
90s see a change with regard to European Union citizenship. The Treaty of the
European Union (Maastricht 1992) marked a move from European Economic Community
to more politically-oriented European Union.
Art.3
TEU: the Union set itself objective to strengthen protection of rights and
interests of nationals of the Member States through citizenship. Exercise of
rights would help to forge identity with Union.
According
to art.20
(1) TFEU: Citizenship of the Union is hereby established. Every person
holding the nationality of a Member
State shall be a citizen of the Union. Citizenship shall complement and not replace national
citizenship.
NOTE:
the European Union citizenship is to complement and not replace Member State
nationality.
The
post tomorrow will include references to European Union treaty law relevant to
citizenship. Art.20
(2) TFEU established that citizens of the European Union enjoy certain
rights and are subject to duties provided for in the treaties. This means that
European Union citizens enjoy a series of political, civil and socio-economic
rights. Some are set out in arts. 21-24 TFEU, others in secondary legislation to be adopted
under art.
25 TFEU.
Thursday 14th February 2019
Jorge Emilio Núñez
Twitter: @London1701
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