Union Citizenship for UK Citizens
151
Citizenship Office. Alternatively, UK citizens could acquire Union
Citizenship only if they agree to pay a small tax indexed to their salary.
Needless to say, these are bold and radical proposals, which those familiar
only with mediated member-state based citizenship will take time to accept.
Admittedly, this proposal does nothing to address the concerns of Rainer
Bauböck who worries about the divide between the mobile and the immobile citizens. Indeed, in some ways this proposal further exacerbates the
division between these two groups. Nor does it solve Sarah Fine’s concerns
about ‘the growing divide between European citizens and the people they
want to keep out.’ The proposal does, however, connect with Kieran
Oberman’s appeal to John Stuart Mill. Many of Mill’s political writings are
the works of a partisan. They are written to and for progressives who find
themselves in a society where they are a minority. Mill was forever coming
up with clever institutional wheezes and innovative policies that would
move the cause of progress along. Knowing how to overcome setbacks is a
necessary part of this project. Citizenship for pro-European Brits does not
solve all of the problems that now plague post-Brexit Europe. But it offers
rewards for people who need encouragement and are the most likely to
become the agents of change needed to address the more serious global
problems raised by Fine, Oberman, and others.
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