This special issue of JEMS deals with the challenges of migration for citizenship attribution in Western Europe. It collects contributions by Maarten Vink and Gerard-René de Groot, Marc Morjé Howard, Sara Wallace Goodman, Evelyn Ersanilli and Ruud Koopmans, Marc Helbling, Read More …
by EUDO CITIZENSHIP expert Kristine Kruma
The Latvian Constitutional Court reaffirmed the validity of the norm in the country’s Transitional Provisions of the Law on Citizenship which provided for holders of dual citizenship acquired during the Nazi and Soviet occupation. According to this norm, individuals who were deported or left Latvia during occupation can keep the second nationality acquired during their time abroad if registered as Latvian citizens before July 1, 1995.
The Senate of the Supreme Court had contested this norm claiming that the registration deadline did not comply with Article 1 (Latvia is an independent democratic republic), and Article 2 (the sovereign power of the State of Latvia is vested in the people of Latvia) of the Constitution, and the doctrine of continuity of the State of Latvia stated in the country’s Declaration of Independence.
by EUDO CITIZENSHIP expert Dagmar Kuša In a reaction to the change of the Hungarian citizenship law on 26 May, the Slovak Citizenship Act has been modified on the same day. The amendment provides that if a Slovak citizen acquires Read More …
by EUDO CITIZENSHIP/CITSEE expert Jelena Džankić
On May 5, 2010, Montenegro signed the European Convention on Nationality. The Convention was promulgated in Strasbourg in November 1997, and provides for non-discrimination in regulating questions of nationality. It attempts to prevent statelessness and regulates multiple nationality.
The signature has been preceded by a Law on Confirming the European Convention on Nationality, adopted on March 2, 2010. The Law enters into force on the eighth day from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette of Montenegro – International Agreements. Pursuant to article 3 of the Law, ‘Montenegro does not accept the implementation of provisions stipulated in article 16 of the Convention’. This reservation clause has its roots in the current Citizenship Act, which does not allow dual citizenship.
Read a summary of the new provisions in the Hungarian Nationality Act (July 13, 2010)
by EUDO CITIZENSHIP experts Mária M. Kovács and Szabolcs Pogonyi
24 May 2010
During the past eight years of the socialist-liberal coalition government, the rift between the opposition and the ruling parties grew bitter: it seemed that no consensus on important political questions is possible between the Hungarian governing parties and the opposition. But after the landslide victory of the centre-right Fidesz party in the April parliamentary elections, consensual politics seem to be alive again – at least on some important national issues, primarily on offering citizenship for Hungarians living abroad and the commemoration of the tragic consequences of the 1920 Paris peace treaties. After initial discussions in the Parliament it seems that all major parties support Fidesz’s initiative to offer dual external citizenship for Hungarians living in the neighboring countries, and also endorse the commemoration of the anniversary of the 1920 Paris peace treaties as Hungary’s biggest national catastrophe.
By EUDO CITIZENSHIP expert Oxana Shevel
12 July 2010
Unlike in neighbouring Slovakia where the May 26 amendment to the law on Hungarian citizenship that granted persons of Hungarian ancestry residing abroad the right to Hungarian citizenship led to a domestic outcry, in Ukraine there has not been any official reaction so far. According to the 2001 census, Hungarians are the 7th largest ethnic group in Ukraine, numbering 156,600. They are concentrated in the Zakarpattia oblast (region) in the south-west corner of the country where they constitute the second largest ethnic group (after Ukrainians), numbering 151,500, or 12 percent of the region’s population. Given that within the region the Hungarians are further concentrated in the districts along the Hungarian border, and that today’s Zakarpattia was part of the Kingdom of Hungary and became part of the Soviet Ukraine only in 1945, one can expect Ukraine to be as sensitive as Slovakia and Romania to the dangers of Hungarian irredentism that some suspect lurking behind the new Hungarian law. The Hungarian law also relates to Ukraine’s long-standing concerns about, and opposition to, the principle of dual citizenship. This opposition stems first and foremost from the Ukrainian elites’ fears that dual citizenship with Russia can endanger Ukraine’s sovereignty and potentially even territorial integrity, given that Ukraine’s ethnic Russians are concentrated in Ukraine’s regions bordering Russia, especially in Crimea where they constitute the majority. Even though there is no dual citizenship agreement between Russia and Ukraine and Ukrainian legislation does not recognize dual citizenship, Russia has been issuing Russian passports to Ukrainian citizens since the 1990s. According to some estimates, as many as 100,000 people in Crimea now hold both Ukrainian and Russian passports.
Shortly before resigning, the Belgian government led by prime minister Yves Leterme adopted a bill reforming acquisition of Belgian citizenship. This reform had been on the coalition government’s agenda since July 2009. The fall of the government means that the future of the bill is uncertain. It has not yet been published in the official bulletin Moniteur Belge. The following text reprinted from Migration News Sheet May 2010 summarises the content of the intended reform.
[MNS 05/2010] On 9 April 2010, the Federal Government adopted a Bill aimed at tightening the conditions of access to Belgium citizenship.
Under the terms of the Bill, only foreigners holding a residence permit of unlimited duration are entitled to apply for Belgian citizenship.
The book provides basic statistical data on the living conditions of the non-Estonian and non-Latvian populations, and surveys briefly the policies of Estonia and Latvia in the sphere of ethnic relations, migration, and the prevention of discrimination based on race, Read More …
by EUDO CITIZENSHIP expert Christophe Bertossi
French nationals applying for a new passport or identity card will now be able to provide former French passports and identity cards as a sufficient proof of French nationality instead of a French nationality certificate. The new rules came into force on March 1, 2010, following a joint decree of the French Ministry of Interior and of Foreign Affairs.
On 11 March the Greek Parliament approved a bill proposed by the Greek government that comprehensively reforms Greek citizenship law. The law will come into force upon publication in the Official Gazette. The main points of this important reform are:
1.Double ius soli. Automatic acquisition of Greek citizenship if one of the parents is born and permanently resides in the country (Article 1, par. 2, al.a).
