External citizenship in EU countries

Abstract

Citizenship laws often contain provisions regarding preferential acquisition of citizenship by certain categories of foreigners, such as provisions that allow for the possibility to acquire citizenship without the obligation to reside in the country. The practice of external acquisition of citizenship poses important challenges to the modern paradigmatic view of territorially bounded citizenship. This article surveys the legal rules allowing for external acquisition of citizenship in EU countries, and examines three justifications for such rules, namely, the principles of just restitution of citizenship, democratic continuity and national solidarity. The article argues that the principle of just restitution of citizenship offers the strongest, albeit partial, contextual justification for external acquisition of citizenship.

Keywords:

• external citizenship
• external voting
• restitution of citizenship
• democratic continuity
• nationalism
• EU countries

Notes

1. I use the term of ‘citizenship’ as synonymous to ‘nationality’ in order to describe the status of legal membership in a state.

2. The analysis covers the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK.

3. I use various resources provided by the EUDO Citizenship Observatory, including online databases, country reports, comparative analysis and news items. When I do not provide specific references in the text, the data are taken from the online databases of the EUDO Citizenship Observatory.

4. For reasons of space, I do not discuss legal provisions regarding preferential acquisition of citizenship by children and spouses of citizens, or provisions regarding preferential acquisition of citizenship by people with exceptional achievements or who brought special contributions to the state, which may, in some cases, lead to external citizenship. For an overview of such rules, see EUDO Citizenship Observatory.

5. According to the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, certain racial or ethnic groups can be treated more favourably if such treatment serves a legitimate goal, respects the principle of proportionality and is temporary.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Costica Dumbrava

COSTICA DUMBRAVA is Guest Lecturer in the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Maastricht University.