EU Citizenship and Loss of Member State Nationality

Table of Contents: I. Introduction. – II. Deprivation of Member State nationality. – II.1. Adults. – II.2. Minor children. – III. Member State withdrawal from the Union. – IV. Associate EU citizenship. – V. Final remarks.

Abstract: This Article addresses questions concerning the loss of Member State nationality and the possible implications for EU citizenship. The Author first revisits Rottmann (Court of Justice, judgment of 2 March 2010, case C-135/08) and reflects on the limitations that EU places on decisions of Member States to deprive a person of his/her nationality. In addition, the contribution considers whether the Rottmann case law, and the logic underpinning it, can be extended to situations in which Member State nationality is lost as a result of a decision of a Member State to withdraw from the Union. Having answered the latter question in the negative – for UK nationals Brexit implies loss of EU citizenship – the author briefly discusses the recent proposal to introduce an associate EU citizenship for nationals of former Member States.

Keywords: EU citizenship – nationality – withdrawal – Brexit – associate EU citizenship – Brexpats.

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European Papers, Vol. 3, 2018, No 3, pp. 1319-1331
ISSN 2499-8249 - doi: 10.15166/2499-8249/272

* Professor of European Social Law, Maastricht Center for European Law, ap.vandermei@maastrichtuniversity.nl.