Author:Eni Mazniku (Law Faculty, University of Tirana)
Reflections on European citizenship
The idea to write an article on European
citizenship came
into my mind after a very useful training on European Citizenship in Turkey.
Before the training my knowledge on this matter was very unclear and
insufficient, because even nowadays it is a non-widely elaborated matter. After
the training I admit that I am more confused and unclear, but at least I have
more information about the European citizenship.
I am Eni Mazniku, a Public Law master student from Albania,
a country who hasn’t gained yet even the candidate status to be part of the
European Union and you logically may ask: Which are my relations with the
European Citizenship if I am not legally a European citizen? Well, before the
training, I also shared the same doubt. I also thought that citizens of non EU
countries were excluded from benefiting from such a desirable status but
fortunately the situation is more positive as it seems. I will try to explain those reasons in the
next rows.
Before continuing with this article, I need to emphasize the
difference between to concepts, European Union citizenship and European
citizenship. EU’s citizenship is
mainly a legal status, which was regulated by the Maastricht Treaty since 1992.
European Union’s citizenship is supplementary to national citizenship and
affords rights such as the right to vote in European elections, the right to
free movement, settlement and employment across the EU, and the right to
consular protection from other EU states' embassies when a person's country of
citizenship does not maintain an embassy or consulate in the country they need
protection. European citizenship is mainly
a social and cultural status that is not regulated by a specific law. This
concept goes beyond the defined territory of the European Union and is extended
even in the countries that are not part of the EU but feel that share common
values. European citizens are free to think and act like EU’s citizens, because
nothing prohibits them to share such core values as human rights, tolerance,
respect for the diversity, interest on European culture and alike.
To have a clearer view of those two concepts, I would like
to mention two important organizations like Council of Europe and European
Union. The Council of Europe is an
international organization promoting co-operation between all countries of
Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development,
the rule of law and cultural co-operation. It was founded in 1949, has 47
member states with some 800 million citizens. The European Union (EU) is an international
organization, based mostly on economic and political cooperation of 27 member
states that are located primarily in Europe and its population is about 503.5
million people. The EU operates through a system of supranational independent
institutions and intergovernmental negotiated decisions by the member states.
Those two institutions give the possibility to feel
European, even to people who legally may not fulfill the legal criteria of the
EU’s membership. So as we all can see, it is totally possible to feel “European/Européenne/Europäisch/Europeo” even if your passport is not blue with 12
golden stars, because more than a legal status European citizenship is a way of
living.
From the humanitarian
perspective, being a European citizen is a state of strongly believing in such
fundamental rights and freedoms such as: the right to live, the right to
personal life and family, the right to have a due process of law, the right to
be treated without discrimination, freedom of movement, freedom of choosing
your own education, freedom of establishment etc.
From the musical
perspective, being a European citizen may mean that you are a good listener
of Beethoven, Mozart, Wagner, Strauss but at the same time of HIM, Pink Floyd,
The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Muse, Coldplay,U2 etc
From the literature
perspective, being a European citizen may mean that you are a good reader
of Homer, Dante Alighieri, William Shakespeare, George Orwell, Victor Hugo etc
From the social
perspective, being European a European citizen may mean that you were born
in Italy, by a Spanish mother and French father, your girlfriend/boyfriend is
German and you live in Portugal.
List of perspectives is infinite and very subjective too.
There is no unique definition of European citizenship but there are some common
values that people need too share in order to feel European rather than
American or Asiatic. In that moment a question comes into my mind: May a person
from USA, Asia, Africa, Australia feel European? I don’t have a definite answer
for that yet, maybe yes as long as that person shares the same values. I will
let you think about that also…
