Statelessness In The European Union 1 53 Introduction Statelessness is a global problem,1 which means it also occurs within the Member States of the European Union (hereinafter: EU). A huge number of stateless people that live in the EU are former citizens of dissolved states. These former citizens have failed to obtain the nationality of one of the successor states and thus have become stateless.2 Statelessness in the EU, however, can also be explained for other reasons, for instance stateless people that have migrated from third countries to one of the EU Member States.3 On the international level, two important Conventions deal with statelessness: the 1954 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons4 and the 1961 United Nations Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.5 Within the framework of the EU a specific instrument on statelessness does not yet exist.6 As a result, only few EU Member States have a specific legislation on statelessness determination procedure (Italy, France, Latvia, Spain, Hungary, and United Kingdom).7 Consequently, the way in which statelessness is recognized differs between the EU Member States, even among those that have adopted a determination procedure. This article examines the ‘Cuban migrants’ case’ through a study of the Italian case-law. Following a period of more than 11 months absence from 1 Based on UN High Commissioner for Refugees statistics, there are up to 12 million of stateless persons in the world. See UNHCR, ‘Searching for Citizenship’<http://www.unhcr.org/ pages/49c3646c155.html> accessed 26 September 2013. 2 In the European context, the dissolved States are: the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Czechoslovakia, and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. For more information about statelessness related to dissolved states see Paul Lagarde, ‘Successions d’États, apatridie et nationalité: développements récents’ in Patrick Courbe (ed), Le monde du droit: écrits rédigés en l’honneur de Jacques Foyer (Economica 2008). 3 See UNHCR, ‘Statelessness Determination Procedures and the Status of Stateless Persons (“Geneva Conclusions”)’ (2010) <http://www.refworld.org/docid/4d9022762.html> accessed 27 September 2013. The ‘Geneva Conclusions’ point out the difference between two different contexts. The first consisting of countries – many industrialized – that host stateless persons who are predominantly migrants and the second consisting of countries that have in situ stateless population. 4 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (adopted 28 September 1954, entered into force 6 June 1960) 360 UNTS 117. 5 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (adopted 30 August 1961, entered into force 13 December 1975) 989 UNTS 175. 6 See para 3. 7 See: Gábor Gyulai ‘Statelessness in the EU Framework for International Protection’ (2012) 14 European Journal of Migration and Law 287. tilburg law review 19 (2014) 52-63