Brussels, 27/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - After having launched a campaign, on 1 October 2002, with the European Network Against Racism (ENAR) and the European Youth Forum (YFJ), calling on the European Convention to hold a debate on citizenship, the European Citizens Action Service (ECAS) presented, on 27 February, proposals aimed at developing "a more visible and inclusive European citizenship". These proposals are expressed in "a blueprint of 10 model articles on European citizenship", which was sent to the Members of the Convention in an attempt to answer three questions: 1) Who is a European citizen? 2) What rights and obligations should be attached to European citizenship? And 3) How should European citizenship rights be enforced?
"We have the impression the Convention is seeking to avoid the subject while, normally, citizenship - like any fundamental right - is essential in a Constitution", Tony Venables, ECAS Director, told the press. Giving detailed answers to the three questions put by ECAS, Tony Venables stressed: 1) "It is unthinkable that third country nationals who live, work and pay taxes in the EU should have no mention in a European Constitution. The Commission has proposed free movement rights and a 'civic citizenship' for migrants. The Convention should go further and allow them to become European citizens". 2) "The future Constitution should not just refer in Article 5 to the political rights, but also to the economic and social rights attached to European citizenship". ECAS proposes a broader definition of European citizenship and calls for the concept of "dual citizenship" to be maintained. ECAS considers citizenship should not only comprise rights and that the Convention should also take account of obligations entailed by citizenship. The ECAS blueprint introduces the idea of EU citizens' responsibilities to contribute to "ethical globalisation and solidarity", Mr Venables said. 3) ECAS proposes that there should be a right to be informed, a right to be heard and a right of access to justice. "We believe that if people are informed of their rights and that if the rights to petition and to complain to the Ombudsman are strengthened, it should be less necessary to resort to court procedures", Tony Venables added. "In some cases, however, it is necessary to go to court to overcome a situation of impasse or to establish a precedent in the public interest. This should include access not only to national courts but also to the European Court of Justice, an issue yet to be considered by the Convention", Tony Venables concluded.
MEP Pervenche Bérès (PES, France) whose contribution to the European Convention, "What citizenship for the Union?", was recently submitted, insisted on the fact that it was not a matter of harmonising the conditions for access to the nationality of each Member State. Ms Bérès urges for "European residency citizenship", characterised by open access for those who have for a long while lived on EU territory. She adds that residency citizenship is a right recognised in the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, that is, the right to vote and to stand for EP and municipal elections, the right to good administration, the right to have access to documents, to refer matters to the Ombudsman, the right of petition, the freedom of movement and of stay, and diplomatic and consular protection. Regarding the ENAR directive, Vera Egenberger stressed that European citizenship should not only be based on nationality but also on legal residency, mainly at a time when European citizens migrate easily from one Member State to another, for example when they have the opportunity of finding better employment (for ENAR suggestions to the Convention see EUROPE of 19 February, p.7). Finally, the representative of the association "La Lettre de la Citoyenneté", Paul Oriol, considered it unacceptable that there was nothing in the draft Constitution on third country nationals, although there are 15 million third country nationals living in the EU, thus in some respects forming the 7th demographic power of the EU. Among the 13 candidate countries, only Poland, Romania and Turkey have a population larger in size, he notes. He deplores the fact that, in the present state of the EU Treaties and in the future Constitution as it appears in the Convention's draft, these residents, who are de facto Europeans, will not be citizens of the EU. Excluded by law and by fact of the citizenship in their country of origin, and orphans here, they are the orphans of citizenship.