EU Citizenship: A Tool for Integration?

Abstract

AbstractEuropean Union citizenship conveys important rights and opportunities to the almost 450 million citizens of EU Member States. European citizens are first and foremost citizens of their respective member states, but EU citizenship is designed to complement national citizenship, enabling individuals to move and live across the EU, participate in the political life of the EU, and exercise meaningful rights (e.g., diplomatic and consular protection in third countries). For instance, EU citizenship enables participation in local elections of an individual’s their country of residence (independent of national citizenship), as well as vote for members of the European Parliament. Voting in these types of elections promises to increase the political legitimacy of the EU and, in principle, diminish the democratic deficit of this supranational institution. And through political participation that builds political legitimacy, EU citizens push this institution toward an “ever closer Union.”