EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Viviane Reding
Vice-President of the European Commission, EU Justice Commissioner
Citizenship must not be up for sale
Plenary Session debate of the European Parliament on 'EU citizenship for
sale' /Strasbourg
15 January 2014
SPEECH/14/18
Main Messages:
National citizenship is an entry door to the EU. It is an entry door to the EU
Treaty and to the rights that EU citizens enjoy.
Member States should use their prerogatives to award citizenship in a spirit of
sincere cooperation with the other Member States. In compliance with the
criterion used under public international law, Member States should only award
citizenship to persons where there is a “genuine link” or “genuine connection” to
the country in question.
It is legitimate to question whether EU citizenship rights should merely depend
on the size of someone’s wallet or bank account.
Citizenship must not be up for sale!
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SPEECH:
The Commission is attentive to developments in the Member States which have set up
investor schemes for granting citizenship. Recently, our attention was most recently
drawn to the Maltese investors' scheme.
There is no doubt that conditions for obtaining and forfeiting national citizenship are
regulated only by the national law of each Member State. But there is also no doubt that
granting the nationality of a Member State means also granting EU citizenship
and the rights attached to it. These are rights which can be exercised and must be
recognised all over the Union. In other words, awarding nationality and citizenship to a
person gives this person rights vis-à-vis the 27 other Member States of the European
Union.
As a matter of fact, since the Treaty of Maastricht, granting Member State citizenship
also means granting EU citizenship. This means granting a series of additional EU rights.
This is the case of the right to move and reside freely within the EU territory, the right to
work and stand as candidate in European and municipal elections in their Member States
of residence, the right to consular protection and benefit from the many achievements of
the Single Market. As a consequence, naturalisation decisions taken by one
Member State are not neutral with regard to other Member States and to the EU
as a whole.
National citizenship is an entry door to the EU. It is an entry door to the EU Treaty and
to the rights that EU citizens enjoy. A passport is not only a paper or an official
document. It conveys rights and obligations both to citizens and to all Member
States of the Union. That is why Member States should use their prerogatives to award
citizenship in a spirit of sincere cooperation with the other Member States, as stipulated
by the EU Treaties. In compliance with the criterion used under public international law,
Member States should only award citizenship to persons where there is a
“genuine link” or 'genuine connection" to the country in question.
In general, let me raise the question: do we like the idea of selling the rights provided
by the EU Treaties? Certainly not. Citizenship must not be up for sale!
We have been celebrating the European Year of Citizens 2013 that marked the 20 th
anniversary of European citizenship. In this context it is legitimate to question
whether EU citizenship rights should merely depend on the size of someone’s
wallet or bank account.
While I am not calling for the Commission to receive legal power to determine what
constitutes nationality or the rules granting it, the Commission nevertheless expects
that Member States act in full awareness of the consequences of their
decisions.
Our debate today shows the growing importance of these questions in a European Union
where national decisions are in many instances not neutral vis-à-vis other Member
States and the EU as a whole. It is a fact that the principle of sincere cooperation, which
is inscribed in the EU Treaties (Article 4.3 of the Treaty on European Union), should lead
Member States to take account of the impact of decisions in the field of nationality on
other Member States and the Union as a whole.
That is why the Commission follows any developments concerning this matter in the
Member States.
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Citizenship has been very much in the centre of our discussions over the last years: in
the context of the European Year of Citizens, the run-up to the European Parliament
elections and more generally in all our work to reconnect our European citizens to the
democratic life of the EU. That's why citizenship cannot be taken lightly. It is a
fundamental element of our Union. One cannot put a price tag on it.
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