This book critically analyses the case law on EU citizenship in relation to its personal free movement rights, its status on the primary law level, and EU fundamental rights protection. The book exposes the legal space where EU citizenship variably loses or gains legal relevance, and questions how this space can be overcome.

Through a thorough analysis of the core personal free movement rights of residence, family reunification, equal treatment and equal political participation, the book demonstrates how the development of the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union has generated a two-tiered legal concept of EU citizenship. Depending on the nature of the legal claim at hand, EU citizenship may appear as a poor legal personhood for exercising free movement rights; sometimes pushing the individual who is in a factual cross-border situation out of the scope of Union law. Contrastingly, in other strands of the jurisprudence, we see EU citizenship and its primary law levelled-rights stretch the jurisdictional scope of Union law, triggering the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights for review of the individual case.

The book enhances the understanding of the legal concept of EU citizenship in Union law and contributes to the debate on the future development of EU citizenship, its relationship to the Charter, and the strength of its legal position for the person who exercises freedom of movement.

Table Of Contents

1. Introduction

I. EU Citizenship: The Legal Space Between Status and Rights

II. Method and Delimitations

III. Outline

2. EU Citizenship: Historical Backdrop and Debate

I. The Legal Origins of EU Citizenship

II. Free Movement of Persons: The Creationist Bone of EU Citizenship

III. Freedom of Movement Based Directly on the Status of EU Citizenship

IV. Debating the 'Promise' and 'Threat' of Equal Treatment

V. The Constitutional Impact of EU Citizenship

VI. The 2010s: Has EU Citizenship Reached its Limits in Free Movement Law?

VII. Where to Go from Here?

3. The Right to Move and Reside Freely: Article 21(1) TFEU and Directive 2004/38

I. Directive 2004/38: The Right to Integrate as a Union Citizen

II. Exit from a Home Member State and Entry into a Host Member State

III. A Right to Reside Beyond Three Months in a Host Member State

IV. Retaining a Right to Reside and Obtaining Permanent Residence

V. The Right of Permanent Residence Status

VI. Withdrawing Residence Rights on Public Interest Grounds

VII. Conclusion

4. Residence and Family Reunification Rights

I. The Right to Return as a Family to the Union Citizen's Home Member State

II. Retained Residence Rights of Family Members

III. The Right to Reside Within the EU: Article 20 TFEU

IV. Conclusion

5. The Right to Equal Treatment

I. The Right to Equal Treatment and EU Citizenship

II. Demanding Genuine Use of Freedom of Movement

III. Establishing the Edges to Equal Treatment

IV. Article 7 of Directive 2004/38 as the Sole Test of Integration

V. The Legal Space between Directive 2004/38 and Article 18 TFEU

VI. Conclusion

6. EU Citizenship and Political Free Movement Rights

I. Political EU Citizenship Rights as Free Movement Rights

II. Extending the Jurisdictional Scope of Political EU Citizenship Rights

III. A Fundamental EU Citizenship Right to Vote in Elections to the European Parliament

IV. National Disenfranchisement and Non-Enfranchisement as a Result of Exercising Free Movement

V. Conclusion

7. EU Citizenship and the Charter

I. The Place of Human Rights in Union Law

II. The Charter and EU Citizenship Rights

III. The Charter and Article 21 TFEU

IV. The Charter and Directive 2004/38: An Unsettled Relationship

V. The Charter and the Right to Equal Treatment

VI. The Charter and Article 20 TFEU

VII. Conclusion

8. Conclusion

I. The Legal Edges of Personal Free Movement Rights

II. EU Citizenship: The Legal Space Between Status and Rights

III. Perspectives for Future Developments