On 19 April 2017, the Dutch Council of State made a reference to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) concerning the compatibility with EU law of the provisions of the Dutch Nationality Act (DNA) that regulate automatic loss of Dutch nationality in case of dual nationals habitually resident abroad for more than ten years. In this note we highlight the EU law, gender and dual nationality aspects of the case.
When freedom of movement was written into the Treaties, the hope was that citizens would become more mobile and, in turn, more European. But instead of uniting Europeans, free movement has become politically divisive.
In the sovereign debt crisis, strongly diverging interests emerged between creditor and debtor states. In the refugee crisis, we have seen similarly deep divides between frontline, transit, destination and bystander countries…
Since the Brexit vote, many British citizens have sought citizenship in other EU member states – notably Ireland – on the basis of ancestry or other provisions, often without any intention of living there. Should we welcome this development? Or is it problematic that people can claim citizenship on the basis of ancestry, especially if large numbers do so? Iseult Honohan argues that while extending the right to citizenship down multiple generations is a questionable step, problems will only really arise if citizens who have never lived in the country are given equal voting power.
Many Italian citizens living outside the country will have the opportunity to vote in the constitutional referendum on 4 December. But what impact could these votes have in shaping the result? Lorenzo Piccoli highlights that with voters outside Italy accounting for around 8 per cent of the electorate, the count at the Civil Protection Centre in Castelnuovo di Porto, where the expatriate ballots are delivered, could be crucial in determining the outcome.
The free movement of people played an important role in the EU referendum campaign and it has been widely discussed as an aspect of the future negotiation package during the months since then. From an EU law perspective, it is part of the package of ‘four freedoms’ that make up the single market: goods, services, capital and people.
Isn’t it about time that universal suffrage was introduced in Brussels? Don’t we already have it? We don’t. Here are the facts.
Over a third of the Brussels population is disenfranchised
Very roughly, the population of the Brussels-Capital region, one of the three regions of the Belgian federal
In these last days before the Rio Olympics opening ceremony, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and its ad hoc divisions are faced with an immense workload, dealing with matters ranging from alleged doping to issues of nationality.
On 24 May 2016, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) issued the Biao judgment about discrimination among nationals in family reunion matters. The court ruled (with 12 votes against 5) that there had been a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) article 14 read in conjunction with article 8.
In the wake of the November 13 terrorist attack, French president François Hollande decided to reinforce France’s security legislation. In addition to a raft of police and intelligence measures, he proposed two major constitutional revisions: the first was to “constitutionalize” the state of emergency, previously an ad hoc piece of legislation; the second was to formalize the conditions under which French citizens can be stripped of their nationality.
Article 39(2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights provides:
‘Members of the European Parliament shall be elected by direct universal suffrage in a free and secret ballot.’
In its brief and rather low key judgment in Delvigne (Case C-650/13; ECLI:EU:C:2015:648), which was handed down on 6 October 2015, the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice has put flesh on the bones of this provision.
