Are EU Citizenship rights automatically removed from people when a state leaves the EU?
Dear European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain information on the EU Citizenship rights of people in a state that leaves the EU. In particular, I want to know the legal powers to remove EU Citizenship from people.
Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty says that EU Treaties shall cease to apply to the State: it does not say that leaving the EU automatically removes individual citizens of their rights.
Greenland left the EU in 1984, but its people kept their EU citizenship, because they are still Danish citizens.
Millions of UK citizens will keep EU citizenship, as residents of Northern Ireland, or as descendants of Irish or other EU nationalities, but all other UK citizens could be stripped of their rights, contrary to the principle of equal treatment and non-discrimination based on nationality, a fundamental principle of EU law.
For over two hundred years, people of Europe have gained more rights and freedoms as citizens. A fundamental principle of rights is that they are inalienable: what EU statute gives the EU the power to take EU citizenship rights from individuals when a country leaves the EU, if any?
As a supplementary question, if the EU has the power to remove EU citizenship from UK citizens, do they have the right to appeal to the ECJ or other body under the principle of equal treatment and non-discrimination based on nationality?
Yours faithfully,
Titus Alexander
UK
Vienna 27/06/2017
Ref: 2017-outgoing-000941
Dear Mr Alexander,
Thank you for your public access to documents request to the European
Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) via AsktheEU.org website.
We would like to inform you that applications made under Regulation
1049/2001 are submitted through the Agency's website. This enables the FRA
to ensure that requests are made in a precise manner and contain, in
particular, sufficient elements to enable the FRA to identify that the
applicant is a citizen or resident of the Union (Article 2 (1) -
Beneficiaries and Scope - Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001).
Please kindly submit your request through the website link where you will
be able to complete the online form:
[1]https://fra.europa.eu/en/about-fra/regis...
or [2]PDF form to be printed and sent by fax, post or e-mail, as
publicised. You can also directly contact the FRA access to documents team
via email: [3][FRA request email]
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For more information relating to Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and other
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Kind regards
European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
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Titus Alexander hat eine Nachricht hinterlassen ()
The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights replied on 05/07/2017
"In your application, you request access to the following:
1. documents on the legal powers to remove EU Citizenship from people when their state leaves the EU.
The FRA regrets to inform you that no documents were found that would correspond to the description given in your application.
Indeed, as specified in Article 2(3) of Regulation 1049/2001, the right of access as defined in that regulation applies only to existing documents in the possession of the institution.
Given that no such documents have been identified, the FRA is not in a position to handle your request."
This leaves open the question whether the EU can remove EU citizenship from individuals when their country leaves the EU.
Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty says that EU Treaties shall cease to apply to the State. It does not say that leaving the EU automatically removes individual citizens of their rights.
Under Article 20 TFEU says:
'Citizenship of the Union is hereby established. Every person holding the nationality of a Member State shall be a citizen of the Union. Citizenship of the Union shall be additional to and not replace national citizenship.'
It does not say that people will be stripped of their EU citizenship if their Member State leaves the Union.
Greenland left the EU in 1984, but its people kept their EU citizenship, because they are still Danish citizens.
Millions of UK citizens will keep EU citizenship, as residents of Northern Ireland or descendants of Irish or other EU nationalities, but all other UK citizens could be stripped of their rights.
This is contrary to the principle of equal treatment and non-discrimination based on nationality, a fundamental principle of EU law (Charter of Fundamental Rights, Article 21.2).
For over two hundred years, people of Europe have gained more rights and freedoms as citizens. The fundamental principle of human rights is that they are inalienable: what EU statute gives the EU the power to take EU citizenship rights from individuals when a country leaves the EU, if any?
The UN OHCHR says: “Human rights are inalienable. They should not be taken away, except in specific situations and according to due process. For example, the right to liberty may be restricted if a person is found guilty of a crime by a court of law.”
The removal of European citizenship rights from a whole group of UK citizens (those who do not have dual heritage) lacks due process and could be said to violate Article 47:
Right to an effective remedy and to a fair trial: this is a political decision which discriminates against individuals on the basis of nationality, without due process.
Does anyone know who can say whether the EU has the power to automatically remove EU citizenship when their country leaves the EU?