CURIA - Documents 8 of 11 https://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document_print.jsf?docid=753... the person concerned to become stateless because, as in the case of the applicant [in the main proceedings], he does not recover the nationality of another Member State (the Republic of Austria) which he originally possessed, by reason of the applicable provisions of the law of that other Member State? (2) [If so,] must the Member State … which has naturalised a citizen of the Union and now intends to withdraw the naturalisation obtained by deception, having due regard to Community law, refrain altogether or temporarily from withdrawing the naturalisation if or so long as that withdrawal would have the legal consequence of loss of citizenship of the Union (and of the associated rights and fundamental freedoms) …, or is the Member State … of the former nationality obliged, having due regard to Community law, to interpret and apply, or even adjust, its national law so as to avoid that legal consequence?’ Concerning the questions referred The first question referred and the first part of the second question 36 By its first question and the first part of the second question, which may appropriately be examined together, the national court seeks in essence to ascertain whether it is contrary to European Union law, in particular to Article 17 EC, for a Member State to withdraw from a citizen of the Union the nationality of that State acquired by naturalisation and obtained by deception inasmuch as that withdrawal deprives the person concerned of the status of citizen of the Union and of the benefit of the rights attaching thereto by rendering him stateless, acquisition of that nationality having caused that person to lose the nationality of his Member State of origin. 37 All the governments that submitted observations to the Court, the Freistaat Bayern and the Commission of the European Communities argue that the rules on the acquisition and loss of nationality fall within the competence of the Member States. Some of them conclude that a decision to withdraw naturalisation such as that at issue in the main proceedings cannot fall within the ambit of European Union law. In that connection, they make reference to Declaration No 2 on nationality of a Member State, annexed by the Member States to the final act of the Treaty on European Union. 38 The German and Austrian Governments also argue that when the decision withdrawing the naturalisation of the applicant in the main proceedings was adopted, the latter was a German national, living in Germany, to whom an administrative act by a German authority was addressed. According to those governments, supported by the Commission, this is, therefore, a purely internal situation not in any way concerning European Union law, the latter not being applicable simply because a Member State has adopted a measure in respect of one of its nationals. The fact that, in a situation such as that in the main proceedings, the person concerned exercised his right to freedom of movement before his naturalisation cannot of itself constitute a cross-border element capable of playing a part with regard to the withdrawal of that naturalisation. 39 It is to be borne in mind here that, according to established case-law, it is for each Member State, having due regard to Community law, to lay down the conditions for the acquisition and loss of nationality (Micheletti and Others, paragraph 10; Case C‑179/98 Mesbah [1999] ECR I‑7955, paragraph 29; and Case C‑200/02 Zhu and Chen [2004] ECR I‑9925, paragraph 37). 40 It is true that Declaration No 2 on nationality of a Member State, annexed by the Member States to the final act of the Treaty on European Union, and the decision of the Heads of State and Government, meeting within the European Council at Edinburgh on 11 and 12 December 1992, concerning certain problems raised by Denmark on the Treaty of European Union, which were intended to clarify a question of particular importance to the Member States, namely, the definition of the ambit ratione personae of the provisions of European Union law referring to the concept of national, have to be taken into consideration as being instruments for the interpretation of the EC Treaty, especially for the purpose of determining the ambit ratione personae of that Treaty. 26/05/2021, 10:03