In this chapter, Martijn van den Brink discusses two questions: what is the relationship between national and EU citizenship legally speaking, and what should it be normatively speaking? While often conflated, these questions must be considered independently of each other. He argues first that EU law is not even capable of justifying the very minimal restrictions CJEU case law has imposed on the authority of Member States to determine the rules on the acquisition and loss of national citizenship. It certainly cannot justify more far-reaching restrictions such as outlawing investor citizenship or allowing UK nationals to retain their EU citizenship. Normatively speaking, however, Martijn van den Brink makes the case for giving the EU greater influence over the conditions relating to the loss and acquisition of national and EU citizenship, in particular to ensure that third-country nationals with social ties to their society of residence have a credible path to citizenship.
Martijn van den Brink, ‘The Relationship between national and EU citizenship: what is it and what should it be?’ in Daniel Thym and Dora Kostakopoulou (eds), Research Handbook on European Citizenship Law and Policy (Edward Elgar 2022).