Author: Stefan Kadelbach

Title: Union Citizenship

Abstract:

Union citizenship is the product of a political process which aimed at enhancing the status of the individual. Parallel to the deepening of European integration, a new role was sought for citizens that goes beyond participating in the Common Market. To achieve this goal, a strategy is followed which tries to sketch out a legal frame what has to be filled with political life. This article tries to take legal analysis and sociological aspects into account. Starting from the assumption that citizen status implies civil, social and political rights, it suggests that the existing Treaty provisions on Union citizenship are of a more symbolic nature, and that its legal potential lies in the sphere of social rights. If the ideal is creating a reflection of a full citizen status on the Union level, disappointment will be inevitable as long as the Member States remain reluctant in offering genuine political participation on both stages of the European multi-level system.

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