On Thursday 25 April, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that EU law does not, in principle, prohibit the automatic loss of German nationality if Turkish nationality is regained. However, if this loss also results in the loss of Union citizenship, the Court considers that an individual assessment of the consequences is necessary.
Turkish nationals have challenged before a German court the loss of their German nationality after recovering Turkish nationality, which they had been required to renounce in 1999 in order to become naturalised Germans.
The Court of Justice points out that each Member State determines the conditions for loss of nationality, given that it is “legitimate for a Member State to wish to protect the special relationship of solidarity and loyalty between itself and its nationals”. But if this leads to loss of Union citizenship, the principle of proportionality applies.
The people concerned must be able to contest this loss if it leads to “disproportionate” consequences.
“If this is the case, a person must be able to retain their nationality and therefore their citizenship of the Union or, where appropriate, recover these retroactively”, states a Court press release.
As this is a reference for a preliminary ruling from a German court to the Court of Justice, the latter does not resolve the national dispute. It is for the national court to resolve the case in accordance with the Court’s decision.
To see the judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/bz5 (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)