The Multilevel Governance of Citizenship

Mirroring the evolution of the institutions of European integration from the European Coal and Steel Community through the European (Economic) Community to the European Union, the scope of European law has expanded dramatically and the Luxembourg Court has grown concomitantly. This paper focuses on an aspect of European law that has traditionally been at the core of state sovereignty: citizenship. This paper proceeds from the assumption that introducing citizenship alters the status of individuals vis-à-vis their governments, implies equality of treatment among citizens, and should ultimately eliminate reverse discrimination. In federal states – the form of political system the EU appears to be becoming – the introduction of federal rights that took primacy over local ones empowered individuals and redrew the relationship between the governments of the center and those of the units. Similarly, Union citizenship limits the power of Member States to treat their own nationals worse than nationals of other Member States. This does not eliminate the tension between center and unit (or federal and regional; EU and Member State) law but should give extra weight to former over the latter. Many CJEU cases since the entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty can be seen as attempts to grapple with the new constitutional status of Union citizenship. Jurisdictional issues remain, but the growth of Union citizenship means that EU law should grow to encompass any right protected or promoted by Union citizenship.