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Abstract
This paper aims to make a contribution to the empirical study of the development of European citizenship at grass roots level, through the analysis of political participation of non-French EU citizens resident in France (NFEUCRIFs) at local elections in 2001 and 2008 in France. Official statistics show that whilst there has been a considerable increase in 2008 both in terms of voter registration and election to municipal councils compared with 2001, these figures still represent only a tiny proportion of the total number of voters and elected candidates. Nevertheless, France remains a fruitful site for further qualitative analysis of how these ‘pioneers’ of European citizenship may (or may not) be contributing to the building of some kind of ‘Eurodemocracy’ at grass-roots level, and whether or not any links between municipal politics and the wider European framework can be meaningfully established.
Notes
1 Originally Article 8 EC as amended by the Maastricht Treaty. Following the Lisbon's Treaty entry into Force in December 2009, it became Art, 20 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and is now also referred to in Art, 9 of the Treaty on European Union.
2 This is the original Article 8B as inserted into the EC Treaty by the Treaty of Maastricht. For a full list of the rights conferred by European citizenship, see http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/institutional_affairs/treaties/amsterdam_treaty/a12000_en.htm.
8 Eurostat, Community Labour Force Survey. Germany has the highest number, at 1.5 million (2.5 per cent), but Luxemburg has the highest proportion, at 34 per cent.
9 http://www.vie-publique.fr/decouverte-institutions/institutions/approfondissements/collectivites-locales-au-sein-union-europeenne.html. Germany has 14 per cent, Spain and Italy 9 per cent each, and the Czech Republic 7 per cent. These five countries together account for 80 per cent of the municipalities in the EU. France and the Czech Republic both have the lowest average number (1,600) of inhabitants per municipality. The highest is the UK with 135,000. http://www.dgcl.interieur.gouv.fr/Publications/CL_en_chiffres_2006/accueil_CL_en_chiffres_2006.htm.
10 The statistics concerning non-French EU citizens do not include those who have taken French nationality.
11 The term ‘Eurodemocracy’ is borrowed from the title of a group working under the directorship of Sylvie Strudel, ‘Vers une “Eurodémocratie”? Mise en pratiques de la citoyenneté européenne’, which was part of a wider project carried out by the CEVIPOF in Paris on ‘La démocratie en mouvement’. The papers were presented at a conference in Paris on 13 December 2001, and published as a special issue of the Revue Internationale de Politique Comparée, Vol. 9 no.1, Spring 2002, entitled ‘Dossier: Pratiques de la citoyenneté européenne’, under the coordination of Sylvie Strudel. http://ripc.spri.ucl.ac.be/francais/Sommaire/archives/vol9-1/Pratiques-citoyennete-europeenne.htm
13 Constitutional law no. 92–554, 25 June 1992. This law adds a ‘titre’ on the European Communities and the European Union to the constitution, in which Article 88.3 states that ‘On the condition of reciprocity, and according to the procedures set down in the Treaty for European Union signed on 7th February 1992, the right to vote and stand in municipal elections can only be accorded (peut être accordé aux seuls citoyens de l'Union) to citizens of the Union residing in France.’ This cautious use of language is indicative of the difficult political climate in which the change was introduced.
14 94/80/CE, modified by successive directives to take account of new members. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri = CELEX:31994L0080:EN:HTML.
15 Organic law no.98–404, 25 May 1998 and decree of application no.98-1110, December 8 1998.
16 For a full account of how the directive was transposed and applied in practice in other member-states, see the Commission report to the European Parliament and the Council on the application of Directive 94/80/EC, available at http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/justice_home/index_en.htm. Unfortunately the report did not include Denmark or France since information was not returned by these two countries in time for the report.
17 NFEUCRIFs are registered on separate lists to those for French citizens.
18 These estimations are to be treated with caution: since permits can be given for 10 years, holders may have moved elsewhere before expiry date. On the other hand, given the rule that a permit was not technically necessary if you left the country every three months, together with the abandonment of stamping passports of NFEUCRIFs, and the desire to avoid long queues in the préfecture, it is highly likely that large numbers did not request residence permits.
19 Registration rates based on estimated potential voters were no longer possible after 2003, when residence permits were abandoned.
20 The Ministry of the Interior's estimate of 1.2 million NFEUCRIFs in 2007 seems implausible, since this was the same level in 2001.
21 ‘quitte à être «l'européen de service», il vaut mieux être «l'européenne de service»’.
22 My full explanation of the voting system in municipal elections can be found at http://www.anglophone-direct.com/A-more-detailed-look-at-the-French.
23 The full set of figures is not published here due to their volume: 26 nationalities and 100 departments.
24 Open interviews were carried out with a sample of 50 British councillors elected in 2001, identified mainly through an appeal in the Anglophone press in France (French News and Connexion). The full results of this survey will be the subject of a separate publication.
25 France 3, ARTE, Ouest France, La Montagne.
27 One association was notable for its notices in the Parisian press informing EU citizens of their rights to vote http://www.europeenfrance.com/. This association has since been disbanded.
28 ‘Member-States must inform non-national voters and persons entitled to stand as candidates in good time and in an appropriate manner of the conditions and detailed arrangements for the exercise of the right to vote and to stand as a candidate in elections in that State.’
30 http://www.alainlamassoure.eu/liens/817.pdf (my translation).
32 Lobby groups include the European Network Against Racism (ENAR), the European Citizen Action Service (ECAS) and the Association pour une citoyenneté européene de résidence (ACER).