Statelessness in the European Union
EU Member States. 3 With the Member States holding the sovereign prerogative
to regulate matters of nationality, widely diverging regulations concerning
statelessness have come to exist within the EU. This hampers the provision of
adequate, uniform protection for stateless person across the EU, as well as the
conception of a comprehensive solution. 4 At present, the EU lacks an effective
overarching mechanism to address the consequences of statelessness, and is
therefore limited in its ability to tackle the problem. 5
In another citizenship context, however, the EU has demonstrated that it is
capable of devising a framework of rights that transcends the confines of the nation
state: EU citizenship. While the plight of stateless individuals — manifesting itself
primarily in obstacles to the enjoyment of fundamental rights — remains
unaddressed, those in possession of Member State nationality are granted rights
additional to the ones they already enjoy by virtue of their national citizenship. 6
It seems, therefore, that the EU finds itself in possession of a unique tool that might
be capable of addressing the rights-related challenges faced by stateless
individuals.
In light of the foregoing, it appears that increased action to address the impact
of statelessness at the EU level would be desirable and that EU citizenship presents
itself as an interesting opportunity in this regard. Explorations of the value of EU
citizenship beyond its current format in the specific context of statelessness are,
however, limited in number. Cognizant of this gap, such an exploration is placed
at the heart of this contribution. With the aim of inspiring renewed debates on, and
reconsideration of, the institution of EU citizenship as a potential approach to
mitigating the human impact of statelessness, this article examines the value that
EU citizenship might have for stateless persons.
This article commences, in Part II, with an exploration of the key terms that are
central to this paper: ‘statelessness’, ‘nationality’ and ‘citizenship’. An argument
is made for the distinction between the frequently interchangeably used concepts
of nationality and citizenship, as such a distinction generates new avenues to
explore potential solutions to statelessness. Having set out the conceptual
framework, the article arrives at its core argument in Part III. Prior to discussing
the value EU citizenship for stateless individuals, however, an overview of the
manifestations of statelessness in the EU, as well as an exploration of the rights
attached to EU citizenship, are provided. In discussing the value of EU citizenship,
a hypothetical scenario is relied upon and focus is placed on the ways in which
citizenship of the EU could alleviate the hardships experienced by stateless
individuals, as well as its potential to facilitate the process of nationality
acquisition.
3
4
5
6
‘Table 7: Persons under UNHCR’s Statelessness Mandate’ in Global Trends: Forced
Displacement in 2018 (Report, UNHCR 2019) <https://www.unhcr.org/statistics/18-WRDtable-7.xls> (‘UNHCR Table 7’).
For a more detailed analysis of the protection frameworks for stateless persons existing within
the European Union see, eg, Gabor Gyulai, ‘Statelessness in the EU Framework for
International Protection’ (2012) 14(3) European Journal of Migration & Law 279; Katia
Bianchini, Protecting Stateless Persons: The Implementation of the Convention Relating to
the Status of Stateless Persons across EU States (Brill 2018).
Such lack of a mechanism pertains not merely to the protection of stateless persons, but to the
identification of stateless individuals and the avoidance of statelessness as well.
See Consolidated Version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, opened
for signature 13 December 2007 [2012] OJ C326/47 (entered into force 1 January 2009) art
20(1) (‘TFEU’).
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