Pretending There is No Union: Non-Derivative Quasi-Citizenship Rights of Third-Country Nationals in the EU

Abstract

The enjoyment of some rights by third-country nationals in the EU is not dependent on the primary beneficiary of rights (be it a person or a company), thereby connecting the third-country nationals with the law of the Union directly, without any proxy Moreover, in essence some of such rights are remarkably similar to the rights that EU citizens enjoy. Such directly enjoyable quasi-EU citizenship rights and their holdersmany a category of third country nationalsconstitute the key focus of this contribution, which aspires to walk through all the main statuses of third country nationals in the EU enjoying directas opposed to derivativequasi-citizenship rights in the Union. Concluding such overview three significant interrelated problems with the way how third country nationals are treated in the EU are outlined:EU migration regulation assumes the denial of the legal political reality of the Union; 1.

Against Associate EU Citizenship

“…The idea of associate EU citizenship is to be distinguished from the extension of certain rights we usually associate with EU citizenship to third‐country nationals, based on an international agreement between the EU and a third party. For example, European Economic Area (EEA), Swiss and Turkish nationals, while enjoying some of the rights enjoyed by EU citizens, are not associate EU citizens (Kochenov and van den Brink, ). Associate EU citizenship stands out in two important respects.…”

European Identity and Citizenship

“…Th e term 'postmodern' is not suffi ciently explained in legal and political studies and is often misrepresented and misinterpreted. Authors who examine the nature of EU citizenship (Bauböck 2010 ;Isin and Saward 2013 ;Kochenov 2009 ;Kochenov and van den Brink 2014 ;Kostakopoulou , 2005Kostakopoulou , 2011Shaw 2008 ; fail to identify postmodern traits of EU citizenship. Th e same can be argued about some major European research platforms and research projects on EU citizenship such as: Barriers to European Citizenship-bEUcitizen, 1 Enacting European Citizenship, 2 MACIMIDE, 3 and so on.…”