Radu Alexandra

RISE I

European citizenship vs. national citizenship

The term citizenship comes from Greek, being taken from the European modern languages through Latin, knowing thus a new development, especially related to the association with civic virtue. In the classical tradition of civic virtues different thinkers and politicians have meditated during history upon the concept of citizenship. Machiavelli understood by citizenship the love for freedom but also the citizen s permanent obligation to ac!uit themselves of their responsibilities, obligation imposed by education, religion, or by conse!uent sanctions. Montesquieu saw in the civic virtues of the citizens a source of stability of the state. Rousseau considered that liberty assumes civic virtues, but also the involvement in the public issues and taking political decisions " the citizens were seen as such as long as they took part in the sovereign power. Aristotle in his work The Politics, stresses that a person is not a citizen only by his residence, because also the foreign and the slaves have residences. #either is it a conse!uence of the right to be in $ustice as a plaintiff or culprit, the residence and $uridical actions can belong to people who are not citizens%. &uridical speaking, the constitutional right defines the citizen as being the titular of rights according to the state he belongs to, while the international right tends to understand by citizen any inhabitant. The citizenship related to the internal right defines the $uridical !uality that allows a person to take part in the in the state s life, en$oying the civic and political rights and being submitted in the same time to certain obligations, such as the mandatory vote and military service, citizenship being a cultural and historical construction, it is learned by each person and every generation of citizens. The concept of European citizenship introduces the citizen in the social, economical, political life of another state member, different than that to which the citizen belongs to. The constitutive treaties of the European 'nion had in consideration the citizen of a state member only as an economical agent. European citizenship represents a challenge of the concept of citizenship as it was $uridical consecrated in the system of values of each sate, as well as in constitutions( it targets a supranational citizenship which, for the first time refers to a set of values and institutions, instead of the mandatory membership to a territory, to a culture and a national state., it refers to the $uridical status of the citizens of the member countries of the European 'nion. This status was introduced in the Treatise from )aastricht and developed by the *harta of fundamental rights of the 'nion, as a set of supranational rights. )ore precisely, article %+ of the Treatise of construction of European
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,ristotle, -oilitics, ,ntet -ublishing, %../, page +0, edition that renews the work -olitics, from #ational *ulture Editure in %.01

communities, stipulates that a citizen of the European 'nion is any person that benefits firstly of the nationality of a state member. The most asked !uestion related to this issue is whether or not a European citizenship is an e2tension of the national rights, or must a new form of collective identity be built, based on the idea of liability rights, respective, conditional guaranteed rights, as long as certain per!uisite demands have been solved 3certain obligations and rights4 0. European citizenship is distinct than the national one, which, according to the Treatise from ,msterdam, completes it, 5..it doesn t replace it 3*E Treatise, art.%+ new, alignment %4, this supranational status is guaranteed by the e2ertion of a limited number of rights on the territory of another state member, another than the own country. 6is e2tension of nationality is not reversible7 the citizens of a member country cannot achieve the citizenship of the other member countries. The *onstitutional *ourt of 8enmark made the following specifications 3von 9eyne, 0::%, page +047 the citizenship of the 'nion is a political and $uridical concept which is completely different then the concept of citizenship, from the constitution of 8enmark and the 8anish $uridical system. The citizenship of the 'nion doesn t confer the right of a member country citizen to achieve 8anish citizenship or any rights, obligations, privileges or inherent advantages of 8anish citizenship. ,lthough both types of citizenship refer both to rights as well as to obligations, they are different by the regulations in which they find their origins. Thus, European citizenship is regulated by the 'nion s rights, while national citizenship is regulated by the national right, so, European citizenship doesn t suppress any inherent right of the national citizenship, it $ust offers supplementary rights which will be e2erted either at the 'nion s level 3the right to vote, the right to choose in the European -arliament4, or at the level of the national states. European citizenship is a comple2 concept. ;irst of all, it reunites the local, national and supranational elements. <econdly, it is an incomplete citizenship, because it contains an elaborate catalogue of rights, but only one obligation, that of having achieved already the citizenship of a state member of the 'nion. ,nd finally, as any syncretic construction, it is in a permanent evolution and transformation, which makes it difficult to define and theoretically frame. There should be created a real European society to which individuals can relate. )ore important than the theoretical aspects, is the final purpose of this body of $uridical regulations7 the creation of a European identity more profound than that given by geographical and historical membership, referring to a true civic European culture. ,lthough Europeans benefit from the $uridical regime of citizenship, yet, there is no European identity strong enough to mobilize them. ;or stimulating interest and a more active participation the means and strategies of communication must be empowered and the access to European information must be simplified.

9irzea, *ezar, European Citizenship, -olitea -ublishing, <#<-,, p. =+, 0::>.