2020 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 2(1) While there is no explicit mention of EU competence in matters of nationality or citizenship in the treaties, an exclusive competence on part of the Member States in nationality matters can be derived from a number of things. Primary evidence for limited EU competence can be found in art 4(2) TEU, based on which the EU undertakes to respect the equality of Member States as well as their national identities. An essential element of such national identities is, as Advocate General Poiares Maduro observed in his opinion in Janko Rottmann v Freistaat Bayern (‘Rottmann’), the ‘composition of the national body politic’. 88 With the Member States, by law and by principle, exercising exclusive control over matters of nationality and the EU under an obligation to respect their right to delimit the composition of their body politic, it goes without saying that the EU would violate its obligations if it imposed restrictions on nationality regulations. Furthermore, the introduction of EU citizenship by the Maastricht Treaty was accompanied by the Member States’ articulation of the wish to retain sovereignty in nationality matters in Declaration on Nationality of a Member State annexed to the TEU (‘the Declaration’). 89 It held that ‘the question whether an individual possesses the nationality of a Member State shall be settled solely by reference to the national law of the Member State concerned’. 90 Although the Declaration was removed from the official treaty text with the coming into force of the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009, 91 it continues to be an authoritative source of reference in current case law and is regularly looked back upon for guidance. 92 Settled case-law sets out the exclusive competence on nationality matters held by the Member States, with the Court of Justice of the European Union ruling on several occasions that ‘it is for each Member State … to lay down the conditions for the acquisition and loss of nationality’. 93 In essence, the above confirms what has been established in international law and what is customary within the international community: that it is up to the (Member) state to determine who they consider to be their nationals, and who continues to be so. It is by laying down such rules that a (Member) state defines its ‘people’ and delimits its national body politic. It follows from this that the EU is left with only ancillary competences in the area of nationality and citizenship specifically. B Realising a Reformed EU Citizenship: Possibilities and Obstacles It is possible to conclude from the above that both a disentanglement of Member State nationality and EU citizenship, as well as a broadening of EU competences, 88 89 90 91 92 93 Janko Rottmann v Freistaat Bayern [2010] (C-135/08) ECR I-01449, [25] (AG Poiares Maduro). Maastricht Treaty (n 47) annex (‘Declaration on Nationality of a Member State [1992] OJ C191/98’). ibid. Treaty of Lisbon Amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community, opened for signature 13 December 2007 [2007] OJ C306/1 (entered into force 1 January 2009). See, eg, Janko Rottmann v Freistaat Bayern [2010] (C-135/08) ECR I-01449, [3], in which the Court includes Declaration No 2 (n 82) as a relevant provision of EU legislation. Micheletti v Delegación del Gobierno en Cantabria [1992] (C-369/90) ECR I-4339, [10]; Belgian State v Fatna Mesbah [1999] (C-179/98) ECR I-07955, [29]; The Queen v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex parte: Manjit Kaur [2001] (C-192/99) ECR I-1237, [19]; Kunqian Catherine Zhu v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2004] (C-200/02) ECR I-09925, para 37. 40