EU Citizens Rights and Remedies in EU Law

Full course description

EU citizenship is the “cherished child” of EU integration, but what are its implications in the European legal and political order?

The EU Treaties bestow citizens the right to move and reside freely across the Member States and to be treated equally with nationals of the host State, including to some extent in access to welfare. Mobility rights have also fundamental rights connotations, among which the right to family life, independently of the status as non-EU citizens of family members. However, Union citizenship rights come with inherent tensions. This is because control over national borders has historically been central to State sovereignty, the boundaries of social solidarity are a crucial yet open question in our societies, and individuals' fundamental rights may clash with Member States' interests.

What is more, citizenship is closely associated to political and democratic rights and to participation in key constitutional and political decisions. The same goes for Union citizenship in the EU system. And yet, the supranational nature of EU citizenship entails specific tensions and inevitable changes. The democratic participation of individuals to such a complex polity requires specific instruments to ensure that European integration does not alienate citizens, thus becoming an undemocratic endeavour.

Finally, rights are of little use without appropriate remedies. In the EU, the de-centralised enforcement of EU rights plays a key role. Nevertheless, remedying violations and correcting distorted applications of EU rights is not straightforward when the legal order is multi-layered and access to centralised European courts is limited. Here too, specific remedies, including extra-judicial ones, need to be analysed to make sure that rights in the books correspond to rights in practice.

The course “EU citizenship: rights and remedies in EU law” intends to discuss all those questions and to provide a deep understanding of the role and rights of EU citizenship in the EU legal order, fostering a critical reflection on conflicts, trade-offs but also opportunities of ensuring rights in multi-level polity.

To achieve those objectives, the course proposes to complement the study of the substantive rights of EU citizens with the institutional and procedural tools to enforce those rights. Such a perspective appeals both to those who envisage a career as practitioners and to those interested in continuing their academic path.

This seven-weeks course requires students to think creatively and critically about the law, in order to learn how rights work in practice, what is their impact on the European legal system(s) and – ultimately – on society. To do so, we will consider legal issues within their social, historical, geographical, and political context, discussing case studies on topical issues, such as the rights of LGBTQAI+ families under free movement law, the controversial Golden Passport citizenship schemes, strategic litigation, or the emerging concept of digital citizenship.

Finally, there is no better place than Maastricht to study this crucial field of EU law: the symbolic connection to the Maastricht Treaty, which established EU citizenship, and the international classroom foster the synergies between legal inquiry and our own background experiences, allowing for a better grasp of the development of forms of citizenship and rights beyond national borders.

Teaching methods:

Lecture(s), Tutorials, Work in groups.

Assessment methods:

Participants will be assessed on the basis of a mid-term assessment and an exam at the end of the course. More details in the syllabus on Canvas.