Link to the lesson

Citizenship of the European Union was introducedto introduceintroduced by the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 and confirmedto confirmconfirmed in the Charter of FundamentalfundamentalFundamental Rights of the European Union. It has been granted to all persons who have citizenship of a member state of the European Union, which means that they also Polish citizens are entitledto be entitled toentitled to it.

The scope of EU competences is smaller than that of the member states, which means that the possibility of granting rights is limited. However, the scope of EU civil rights is greater than in the member states. It also includes rights related to inter‑state life within the Union. Although Article 20 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union mentions that citizens are subject to the obligations provided for in the treaties, EU law consists only of rights and does not impose any obligations. Also, the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union has not laid down any obligations.

The idea of European citizenship appeared for the first time in 1947, but it was implemented only after the Treaty of Maastricht. The current legal status has been in force since the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon (December 1, 2009) with which the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights has acquired binding force.

The rights of citizens of the European Union may be divided into two areas. The first area is fundamental rights, resulting from the constitutions of member states and only strengthenedto strengthenstrengthened by the protection of the European institutions. The second is the rights of citizens of the Union, indicatingto indicateindicating their equality regardless of the state from which they come from. Citizenship of the European Union is not associated with any individual's duties towards the European Union, although they are provided for in the Treaty introducing citizenship.

Political rights

• voting in European elections: a right to vote and stand in elections to the European Parliament, in any EU member state,

• voting in local elections: a right to vote and stand in local elections in an EU state other than their own, under the same conditions as the nationals of that state,

• accessing European Union documents: a right to access to European Parliament, Council of the European Union, and European Commission documents,

• petitioning the European Parliament and the Ombudsman: a right to petition the European Parliament and the right to apply to the European Ombudsman in order to bring to his attention any cases of poor administration by the EU institutions and bodies, with the exception of the legal bodies,

• language rights: a right to apply to the EU institutions in one of the official languages and to receive a replyreplyreply in that same language.

Rights of free movement

• right to free movement and residence: a right of free movement and residence throughout the Union and the right to work in any position (including national civil services with the exception of those postspostposts in the public sector that involve the exercise of powers conferredto conferconferred by public law and the safeguardsafeguardsafeguard of general interests of the state or local authorities),

• freedom from discrimination on nationality: a right not to be discriminated against on grounds ofon grounds ofon grounds of nationality within the scopewithin the scopewithin the scope of application of the Treaty.

Rights abroad

• right to consular protection: a right to protection by the diplomatic or consular authorities of other member states when in a non‑EU member state, if there are no diplomatic or consular authorities from the citizen's own state: this is due to the fact that not all member states maintainto maintainmaintain embassies in every country in the world.

Keywords

citizenship of the European Union, Maastricht Treaty, Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

Glossary