eurealist.co.uk

One of the problems for the EU in its push for direct power over the people, is that EU rules introduced under the banner of removing trading restrictions those prohibiting discrimination between nationals. Only applied to those few people who actually went to work in another member state, the rules did not reach down to the mass of people who did not, hence something was needed to further the interests of the EU.

EU Citizenship was first formally introduced in 1992 in the Maastricht Treaty but because of further developments in the extent of EU citizenship the states feared EU citizenship would undermine their basic sovereignty, so the clause was changed in the Treaty of Amsterdam

(Maastricht ) Citizenship of the Union is hereby established. Every citizen holding the nationality of the Member State shall be a citizen of the Union.
(Amsterdam amendment) Citizenship of the Union shall complement and not replace national citizenship.

Freedom of movement was no longer confined to economic activities but became a general right to be enjoyed by all. They may take employment or run a business, and vote or even stand as a candidate in municipal and European parliamentary elections.

It is clear that EU citizenship was introduced in an attempt to replace national citizenship and undermine the concept of national sovereignty.

However the constitutional amendments which were introduced with the Maastricht treaty reaffirmed the strict linkage between national and EU citizenship, i.e. the only way one could become a citizen of the EU was by first becoming a citizen of one of its member states, thus the member states controlled the gateway to EU citizenship. And the states also controlled the basic rights and the control of those basic rights.

For further integration to be possible it was necessary for the EU to put some trans-national bones on its own concept of citizenship. More on this point later.

The amendment to the citizenship clause in the Amsterdam treaty was a belated attempt by member states to try to negate the erosion of states sovereignty, by the further development of the EUs own citizenship. Which was created by the introduction of an EU based code of Fundamental Rights, and by making Fundamental Rights justifiable in the ECJ. Although the ECJ by its rulings, had been instrumental in injecting the concept that the EU should oversee basic rights, these were an advance of the EU powers beyond that agreed in the treaties.

In contemporary doctrine of both international and constitutional law, the concept of citizenship is part of any states structure, so it could be understood that the establishment of the citizenship of the EU can be interpreted as a step towards the creation of more integrated EU supranational organization. However, the EU citizenship shall complement and not replace national citizenship added in the Amsterdam Treaty, goes some way towards temporarily weakening the fundamentally pro-federalist interpretation of the EU citizenship.

Obviously if we are citizens of the EU and the EU is the provider and protector of our basic rights this does rather place our own nation state in the shade, and reduces our commitment to our nation state, at the same time increasing our commitment to the EU, as the basic concept of nationhood is increasingly realised at the EU level.

All member states constitutions contain a reference to “people” or “nation” in which the states sovereignty is vested. The EU attempts to supersede this implicitly by the establishment of the citizenship of the EU. Given that citizenship of the EU is interpreted as recognition of the European population as which holds its popular sovereignty in the EU, it is a direct challenge to the member states sovereignty.
This of course fits well with the major political parties in Britain moving now to enhance and define the concept of Britishness and the ideas being proposed by both NuLabour and the Conservatives for a new British Constitution and a new Bill of Rights. This makes sense from the point of view of a nation state that finds its basic authority to exists is placed under threat from the federalising tendencies within the EU.
It is clear that EU citizenship was introduced in an attempt to replace national citizenship and undermine the concept of national sovereignty. It is equally clear that there is a conflict between the central EU and its member states, as the states seem to be fighting a regard action in an attempt to stem the flow of power to the EU.

One thing which is apparent is that the EU by gifting a series of fundamental rights to its citizens, that also include what can best be termed as social rights,- ie, Rights that have a costs association health care housing etc. and by including freedom of movement to all of its citizens.

Is creating an internal engine for more integration that the states themselves will be compelled to acknowledge and find difficult to impede.

On one hand the EU can claim - as it already is - that it should be setting the rules for the provision of its own social rights, because these are better in some states than others, hence not fair to some of its citizens. On the other hand the EU is not actually providing any rights; those will be provided and paid for by its members. Hence the individual member state will find itself increasingly having to supply social rights to EU citizens who are not also state citizens. This is already having an affect in Britain as our own NHS is increasingly subjected to claims for service from non British subjects and also finds itself under a direct threat from the EU`s plan for an open health market.

An open health market is simply not conducive to a nationally based health service which is open to all at the point of use, or one that has to pay for its services to be carried out in another country. It is supposed to be a National Health Service, not a provider of cash to other institutions that do not support the concept. Under rules set by an external overarching government, which is not responsible for either raising the money or providing the service, and can make its rules to further its own interest, at the expense of its member states interest, in the comfortable knowledge that it cannot be held accountable by its Citizens.

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EU citizenship, community citizenship, EU demos, NHS
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