CYELP 16 [2020] 301-317 309 teless persons, which will in turn bring economic, political and social benefits to both EU Member States and third countries. At present, statelessness in Europe can be characterised as follows: firstly, it has its source in the geopolitical situation resulting from the collapse of the USSR and Yugoslavia − national laws regarding citizenship in the newly created countries did not allow this nationality to be determined for some national groups such as the Roma or Tatars; secondly, not all countries have adopted international conventions on statelessness, and therefore a conflict of laws or gaps in nationality legislation continue to create statelessness at birth and later in life; thirdly, most stateless people in Europe were born in the region and are stateless in the only country they have ever known; fourthly, since citizenship can only be granted by officially recognised state authorities, there are still non-state territories in Europe from which persons without internationally recognised citizenship come − such as Palestinians or Kurds; fi fthly, since 2015, as a result of the influx of migrants and refugees to Europe, there has been a large group of people who were stateless before leaving their country of origin, or have since become stateless because of the national procedures of the country of origin, whose international situation remains unstable and who are unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin to obtain relevant documents.23 EU legislation does not deal effectively with the issue of statelessness which has emerged on such a massive scale. The only treaty provision regarding stateless persons is Article 67(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,24 according to which stateless persons are treated as third-country nationals. There is also no uniform, harmonised legislation on nationality and citizenship at the EU level, which is mainly considered in the context of the common European asylum policy. There is no common directive establishing a mechanism for treating stateless persons, unlike a number of legal acts regarding refugees.25 Even the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union26 does 23 UNHCR, ‘Stateless in Europe: Ordinary People in Extraordinary Circumstances’ (2018) 8 available at <www.refworld.org/docid/5aa79f9d4.html> accessed 23 May 2020. 24 Consolidated version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) [2012] OJ C326/47. 25 EU legislation that sets common criteria for the qualification of people in need of international protection is included in Directive 2011/95/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on standards for the qualification of third-country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection, for a uniform status for refugees or for persons eligible for subsidiary protection, and for the content of the protection granted [2011] OJ L337 and Directive 2013/32/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on common procedures for granting and withdrawing international protection [2013] OJ L180. 26 Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union [2012] OJ C326/391.