European citizenship was introduced by the 1992 Maastricht Treaty and provides citizens of EU countries with rights such as voting in European elections, free movement within the EU, and consular protection from other EU states when traveling. It is supplementary to national citizenship. Key rights include free movement and residence within the EU, protection from discrimination based on nationality, voting rights, access to EU documents, and consular protection abroad. European citizenship does not replace national citizenship and is acquired based on the rules of one's EU member state nationality.

1. European Citizenship
By Carlos Fernández de Bobadilla
Navarrete

2. • 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.

3. • There isn’t one
“European
Passport”, but
every passport
from the EU has
the same format,
but they’re not all
the same.

4. 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).

5. Right 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)

6. 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).

7. History
• The concept of 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.

8. 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 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Unionstates
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.

9. European citizen rights
• -Right to move and reside freely within the
territory of the Member States;
-Right to vote and stand in elections to the
European Parliament and municipal Member
State in which he resides;
-The right to protection by the diplomatic or
consular authorities of Member States other
than their own;
-The right to petition the European Parliament;
-Right of access to documents of the institutions
and bodies of the Union, and
-Right to apply to the European Ombudsman.

10. The end