Research Papers

It remains the case that, as far as security of residence is concerned, Union citizenship appears to be a lesser status than that of national citizenship. Essentially, it approximates third country national long-term residence status. As Jesse has observed in another context, ‘strong protection from forced removal or revocation of statuses is a signal that a society accepts individuals as members. Full members of society, i.e., nationals, are not under any threat to be expelled. The threat of removal is thus always a reminder of differentiation in status and membership’.[1] This degrading of EU citizenship gives rise to further internal contradictions: while EU citizenship has demonstrated that community belonging does not have to be based on organic-national qualities, cultural commonalities or individuals’ conformity to national values, but can be built on de facto associative relations and connections brought about through residence and de jure equal membership as far as possible,[2] the continued deportation of long-term resident Union citizens makes nationality the ultimate determinant of belonging.[3] In this paper, I search for remedies and proceed to make recommendations for institutional reform. [1] M. Jesse, The Civic Citizens of Europe: Legal Realities for Immigrants in Europe and the Legal Potential for their Integration, PhD Dissertation, EUI: Florence, October 2010, at p. 259. [2] D. Kostakopoulou, European Union Citizenship: Writing the Future. European Law Journal, Vol. 13(5), 2007, 623-646. [3] By so doing, it facilitates the stigmatisation of EU citizens and the possible erosion of their special, citizen status in the host MS by official discourses on ‘the deportation of foreign criminals. Such anti-migrant and xenophobic discourses have featured in the media in the UK, Italy and the Netherlands recently.