Dual Citizenship in the European Union: trends and analysis (2010-2020) another citizenship.45 It has been asserted that dual citizenship is de facto tolerated for citizens by birth, as the constitutional provisions should overrule the contradictory provisions in the Citizenship Act.46 The most recent attempt to clarify this matter took place in 2018, when the Estonian Reform Party submitted a draft bill in order to amend the Estonian Citizenship Act.47 It proposed that dual citizenship would be expressly allowed for all Estonian citizens with certain countries, namely EU- and EEA Member States, Switzerland, the United states, Australia, Canada, New Zealand or a state with which a bilateral agreement had been concluded. The bill was eventually rejected.48 Germany Germany has traditionally held a negative attitude towards dual citizenship for both emigrants and immigrants.49 In December 2014, this negative stance was mitigated, as amendments related to the German ‘option duty’ came into force.50 The option duty requires persons born of non-German citizen parents who acquired German citizenship iure soli and who also acquired another citizenship during their minority (e.g. at birth) to renounce their other citizenship upon attaining 21 years (Art. 29 para. 1 German Citizenship Law). The option duty – taken together with other restrictive measures – left a significant share of second- or third generation immigrants without German citizenship.51 The option duty has therefore been a highly controversial feature of German citizenship law, sparking an academic debate on the role of citizenship law in a multicultural society.52 According to the amended provision, those who had resided in Germany for at least eight years before attaining 21 years, or attended a German school for at least six years, or graduated from a German school or a professional German education institution were now exempted from the option duty (Art. 29 para. 1 sub 2 German Citizenship Law). Therefore, a person who demonstrably grew up in Germany could retain a foreign citizenship, next to German citizenship. If a person does not fulfil any of the above-mentioned criteria, he or she can still be permitted to retain German citizenship if the loss of citizenship would constitute a ‘particular hardship’, which is assessed on a case-by-case basis (Art. 29 para. 4 German Citizenship Law). Lastly, as is also the case for other categories of German dual citizens, those who hold a citizenship of the European Union or Switzerland are exempted from the option duty altogether (Art. 29 para. 1 sub 3 German Citizenship Law). 45 Järve, P., Poleshchuk, V., Country Report: Estonia, EUDO Citizenship Observatory, San Domenico di Fiesole: European University Institute, 2013, p. 10. 46 Pajumets, M., Pathways to citizenship for third-country nationals in the EU Member States: Estonian National Report, Tallinn: European Migration Network Estonia, p. 8. 47 Citizenship Act Amendment Act 634 SE, 9 May 2018, via <https://m.riigikogu.ee>. 48 <https://m.riigikogu.ee/tegevus/eelnoud/eelnou/ebd93883-0cb9-4d1d-b58f-9e6aab9f24d1/>, last accessed on 20 June 2020. 49 See for an historical overview of German citizenship law: Farahat, A., Hailbronner, K., Report on citizenship law: Germany, San Domenico di Fiesole: European University Institute 2020, p. 2 ff. 50 Second Law on the Amending of the Citizenship Law, Federal Law Gazette [Bundesgesetzblatt], No. 52, 20 November 2014, p. 1714. 51 ‘Germany: Survey founds that one third of the grandchildren of Italian and Turkish immigrants does not have have German citizenship’, Globalcit, 1 December 2014. 52 Hailbronner, K., ‘Integration und Staatsangehörigkeit’, in: Sieveking, K., Wechselwirkungen von Migration und Integration im europäischen Mehrebenensystem, Baden-Baden: Nomos 2001, pp. 89-96; Deinhard, M., Das Recht der Staatsangehörigkeit unter dem Einfluss globaler Migrationserscheinungen, Berlin: BWV Verlag 2015, p. 437 ff,; Dornis, C., ‘Ungelöste Probleme des Staatsangehörigkeitsrechts: Gestufte Staatsangehörigkeit als Modell’, Zeitschrift für Rechtspolitik, Vol. 12, 2001, pp. 547-549. 12 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-Comp. 2020/4 - © 2020 Author