Co-creating European Union Citizenship Home (and) Abroad
Dora Kostakopoulou, University of Warwick
European Union citizenship has been an experimental institution, but more attention needs to be directed at realising fully its transformative potential. Perhaps it is time to adopt a more citizen-centred approach, by treating all levels of governance as the co-creators of EU citizenship, thereby overcoming the centralism (EU) v 'home rule' (MS) dualism, and viewing citizens and their families as equal partners in the design and delivery of solutions to impediments to exercising EU citizenship - not as passive recipients of rule-based frameworks, policy initiatives and ideas. In this way, solutions to impediments to exercising EU citizenship, new citizenship practices, citizenship reform and citizenship-related awareness emerge as a result of continuous dialogue 'up', 'down' and 'sideways' and policy innovation. Accordingly, attention should be paid to encouraging multiple conversations among different actors, orchestrating co-creation, building capacity at various levels of governance, advancing new ways of engaging with the EU and influencing MS and their bureaucracies to put citizens' needs and their realities at the centre of their efforts.