Citizenship of the Union, Governance, and Equality

This Article focuses on the effects of introduction of citizenship of the European Union (or “Union”) into the Treaty establishing the European Community (the “EC Treaty”) by the Maastricht Treaty. It has been accompanied by an explosion of writing on its significance for the development of the European Union. Some of this writing is critical; some questions whether Union citizenship can be a “genuine” citizenship or is rather an ill-judged attempt to create a European identity where none exists. It is not the writers alone who have examined citizenship; lawyers and the courts have also done so. The Court of Justice has once again found a vehicle for constitutionalizing an idea which, at first glance, looked unpromising in the words of the Treaty provisions. Notions of citizenship and citizenship entitlements have not just operated in the traditional context of the free movement of persons, but have also influenced approaches to governance in the European Union