RICERCA ITALIANA     

European citizenship and fundamental human rights at the present stage of the European integration process

Università degli Studi di Bari

Abstract

The present research aims to investigate the theme of the European citizenship, with the purpose to analyse both how concrete it has been in the fifteen years since the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, which has included the European citizenship within the Treaty (current Articles 17-22), and to determine the impact of the changes that had already been envisaged in the Constitutional Treaty and confirmed in the recent Reform Treaties. The purpose of this project is to assess to what extent - with respect to the national citizenships - an autonomous European citizenship has been or will be established, and to analyse its features. Specific attention will be devoted to the political and social rights connected to the European citizenship.
We will also consider the complex relationship between fundamental and citizens' rights. The research will construe upon the case law of the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights, comparing these results having in mind the effective level of guarantees granted by the two Courts to citizens' rights. In fact, the most recent choice made by the European Union to explicitly address the fundamental rights represents a "discontinuity" with respect to the model addressed solely to the market's logics and needs. A particular analysis must be devoted to the Area of protection of basic human rights in relation to the acts adopted in the Area of justice, freedom and security.
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Principal Investigator

Ennio Triggiani Università degli Studi di BARI

Research Objectives

The research project aim is to publish a book prepared by the four Research Units on the “EU citizenship” topic. The starting point shall be the evaluation of characteristics and limits of the EU citizenship, and an analysis of how concrete the EU citizenship’ rigths have been in the fifteen years since the Maastricht Treaty in 1992. The research project will also concentrate on the perpectives of this theme, taking in particular account the Charter of fundamental rights and the new reform Treaties, that will be signed in Lisbon before the end of 2007.
The work will concentrate on four main themes, which will be examined by the four Research Units involved in the research project:
a) EU citizenship and political rights;
b) EU citizenship and social rights;
c) effective guarantees of citizens' rights through the case law of the European Court of Justice and European Court of Human Rights;
d) European citizenship and protection of fundamental human rights in the Area of justice, freedom and security.

First Results

The proposed research project aims at clarify the legal framework of the different topics connected to the EU citizenship and to the protection of the human rights in the EU. The final aim is to verify the autonomy of the EU citizenship in comparison with the national citizenships of the Member States, both in relation to civil rights and to political rights. Moreover, particular attention will be devoted to the analysis of the issues related to the Area of justice, freedom and security, because the protection of the fundamental human rights in this Area is still not developed.
With reference to the usefulness of the results of the research project, the Research Units aim at present the results to the main European institutions, as a contribution to the “bottom up” approach in the realization of the European integration process.

Timescale

24 months

National and international background

The citizenship of the EU is one of the most important feature of the Maastricht Treaty, signed in 1992, and is included in the TEC (current Articles 17-22). Every citizen who is a national of a Member State is also a citizen of the Union. This citizenship vests the following rights in Europeans, the right to circulate and reside freely in the Community, the right to vote and to stand as a candidate for European and municipal elections in the State of residence, the right to diplomatic protection and the right to petition the European Parliament and to submit a complaint to the Ombudsman. The Charter of fundamental rights contains similar citizens' rights (but also rights of dignity, freedoms, equality, solidarity and justice). The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe contains a similar list of rights (article I-8), and this choice is confirmed by the new Reform Treaties.
Article 17, paragraph 1 states that every person holding the nationality of a Member State shall be a citizen of the Union. As a consequence, the European citizenship derives automatically from the citizenship of a member State. The former does not substitute the latter, but empowers it, because gives to every European citizen some new rights. EU does not have autonomous criteria for the acquisition and the loss of the European citizenship. These criteria are decided by each Member State and, as a matter of fact, the freedom of every Member State in relation to these decisions can’t be >>>