Statelessness Working Paper Series No. 2017/08 Article 67(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) stipulates that stateless persons have the same legal status as third-country nationals.34 This provision reflects the minimum requirement of the 1954 Convention that necessitates States to provide stateless people the same treatment as is accorded to aliens generally.35 Statelessness is not defined in EU law; respectively, the legislator refers to Article 1(1) of the 1954 UN Convention. The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (CFR)36 brings together the fundamental rights protected in the EU in a single document, but it does not contain any explicit mentions of statelessness.37 It is relevant because stateless persons are also entitled to some of the rights that apply to everyone under the jurisdiction of the Member States. The CFR has the same legal effects as other EU treaties, therefore, secondary legislation has to be in conformity with it.38 The CFR is also under the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union, and it has a vertical direct effect between Member States and individuals.39 In secondary EU legislation, mentions of statelessness are rather sporadic.40 Under the Common European Asylum System, statelessness is not a ground for obtaining protection. The existing rules of EU law protect the stateless in an indirect manner. The basis of this indirect protection is the aforementioned Article 67(2) of the TFEU, which is a gateway to rights in the sense that community legislation often operates with the term ‘third-country nationals’ when stipulating the rights and obligations of foreigners in the EU.41 The existing protection of stateless persons is therefore a byproduct of the legislation in place, which nonetheless might mark the first step towards the construction of a community framework on protecting the stateless.42 Due to this very own sophisticated legal order, the European Union may serve as a bridge between the international obligations of the Member States and the action needed to implement them. As estimated by UNHCR, there are 400,000 stateless persons living in the European Union today.43 There is no doubt that the European Area of Freedom, Security and Justice could be improved by adopting statelessnessspecific legislation at the EU level. 34 Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, signed on 13 December 2007, Official Journal of the European Union C 326, 26/10/2012, p. 0001-0390. 35 Katja Swider, ‘Protection and Identification of Stateless Persons through EU Law’ (2014), Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance Working Paper Series, 2014/5, p. 10. 36 Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, 26 October 2012, 2012/C 326/02. 37 Tamás Molnár, ‘The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the protection of stateless persons in the EU’, presentation held at the conference Addressing Statelessness in the European Union, 18 January 2017, Brussels, available at: https://www.emnluxembourg.lu/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/FRA_EU-Charter-and-statelesspeople_EMN-ENS-UNHCR-conference_18.01.2017.pdf [accessed 25 April 2017] 38 Ibid. 39 Ibid. 40 Ibid. 41 Gábor Gyulai, ‘Statelessness in the EU Framework for International Protection’, European Journal of Migration and Law 14 (2012), p. 284. 42 Tamás Molnár, ‘Stateless Persons under International Law and EU Law: a Comparative Analysis Concerning their Legal Status, with Particular Attention to the Added Value of the EU Legal Order’ (2010), Acta Juridica Hungarica 51, No. 4, p. 304. 43 UNHCR, ‘Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2015’ (June 2016), available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/57678f3d4.html [accessed: 12 September 2017] 9