February 2003

Dear member of the Convention,

Subject: A blueprint of 10 model articles on European citizenship

ECAS launched a campaign on 1 October 2002 together with the ENAR (European network against racism) and the (YFJ) European Youth forum urging the Convention to have a full debate on citizenship. We hope that sufficient time will be devoted to an issue which ought to be central to any constitution-making for Europe.

We have made proposals to develop a more visible and inclusive European citizenship. These are formulated in the attached model draft for European citizenship in a European Constitution.

This 10 article blueprint attempts to answer three questions:

Who is a European citizen?

In the current Treaties, European citizenship is reserved for nationals of Member States. As the EU moves towards a more coherent external borders policy on asylum and immigration, there is less justification for excluding legally resident third country nationals from European citizenship rights. Moreover, the Amsterdam Treaty extended the principles of non-discrimination, and yet the Treaty sanctions institutional discrimination between two groups of migrants – some 7 million EU nationals and family members with the rights attached to European citizenship and 15 million third country nationals deprived of those rights. Free movement of people has become as much international as European: EU nationals may live and work in Europe but also in other continents and more and more families bridge the divide between the two groups of migrants which appears increasingly artificial. It is unthinkable that third country nationals who live, work and pay taxes in the EU should have no mention in a European Constitution. The Commission has proposed free movement rights and a “civic citizenship” for migrants. The Convention should go further and allow them to become European citizens.

What rights and obligations should be attached to European citizenship?

In our earlier proposals and in the essays, we have argued that the visibility of European citizenship is reduced by fragmentation of rights in different parts of the Treaty. The future Constitution should not just refer in article 5 to the political rights, but also to the economic and social rights attached to European citizenship. In our blueprint we propose a comprehensive definition to create more of a focal point in the Institutions and hence more visibility. This should lead to the appointment of a special Commissioner for European citizenship and the Charter. We welcome the intention of the Convention to place European Citizenship at the beginning of a future Constitution, but it must be defined comprehensively. We also urge the Convention to maintain “dual citizenship” in article 5 of the preliminary draft constitutional Treaty (conv. 369/02). The concept is innovatory and citizenship of the Union, which has not developed as it should since the Maastricht Treaty, needs reviving by the Convention.

It is important that European citizenship should be seen in the wider context of fundamental rights and given substance by incorporating the Charter in the Constitution and by EU accession to the Council of Europe Convention on human rights as well as to other international conventions. But, citizenship should not be based only on rights – the Convention should look at the other side of the coin: responsibilities. Our blueprint, introduces the idea of responsibility of EU citizens to contribute to ethical globalization and solidarity.

How should European citizenship rights be enforced?

For citizens to be more actively involved in the Union, and to make use of their rights, they need to be informed in the first place. We propose that there should be a right to be informed, a right to be heard and a right of access to justice. Without information, particularly from distant European Institutions, there are no rights. We believe that if people are informed of their rights and that if the rights to petition and to complain to the Ombudsman are strengthened, it should be less necessary to resort to court procedures. In some cases however, it is necessary to go to court to overcome a situation of impasse or to establish a precedent in the public interest. This should include access not only to national courts but also to the European Court of Justice, an issue yet to be considered by the Convention.

Our proposals define European citizenship in relation to individual but also collective rights, and in particular the principle of “participatory democracy” in article 34 of the preliminary draft Constitution. ECAS fully supports the wording “The Institutions are to ensure a high level of openness, permitting citizens’ organizations of all kinds to play a full part in the Union’s affairs.”

We very much hope that you will study our proposals carefully particularly since European citizenship is everyone’s responsibility and no-one’s and there have been no opportunities for real debate with civil society on a theme which should be at the heart of any Constitution.

Yours sincerely,

Tony Venables
ECAS Director
57 rue de la Concorde
B-1050 Brussels
Email. t.venables@ecas.org
Website. www.ecas.org
Tel. +32 2 512 08 84
Fax. +32 2 511 90 87