PANEL 6 /// LEGAL REPUBLICANISM, FREE MOVEMENT AND EU CITIZENSHIP
CONVENOR: JOÃO CRUZ RIBEIRO
All enquiries about the panel should be sent to [email protected]
Thirty years after the Treaty of Maastricht came into force, it may be time to reflect upon the normative turn (Bellamy and Castiglione, 2003) that this step has represented in European integration. Among many significant changes, the Treaty of Maastricht introduced the status of Citizenship into the architecture of the European Union. Since then, important scholarship has focused on the contributions that Republicanism, as a normative research program, can bring to the Political Theory of the European Union. However, there is still work to be done concerning what Besson and Martí (2009) have called Legal Republicanism, namely with regard to the rights specifically foreseen in EU law as citizenship rights. Indeed, a substantial part of citizenship rights are expressly provided for in primary law (TFEU and Charter of Fundamental Rights). It is appropriate to evaluate whether the emergence and development of these rights have contributed in any way to the satisfaction of proper republican concerns, or if, by contrast as some scholarship argues, they have been aligned with strong libertarian claims.
Free movement is paramount here. Being the most important of the citizenship rights, we should ask whether it attains substantive and procedural standards to be considered republican law (Besson and Martí, 2009). Similarly, one can say the same about the principle of equality and prohibition of discrimination. The characterization and conceptual framing of these rights will be decisive in the evaluation of European integration from a republican perspective.
Thus, many questions remain open about this evaluation and its significance within this tradition of thought. This panel aims at further exploring this and all related topics.
We welcome contributions that address, but are not limited to, the following questions:
This panel also intends to discuss Republicanism broadly conceived. Hereby, we invite contributions from researchers who wish to present their work in the field of Republicanism in general.
All enquiries about the panel should be sent to [email protected]
Thirty years after the Treaty of Maastricht came into force, it may be time to reflect upon the normative turn (Bellamy and Castiglione, 2003) that this step has represented in European integration. Among many significant changes, the Treaty of Maastricht introduced the status of Citizenship into the architecture of the European Union. Since then, important scholarship has focused on the contributions that Republicanism, as a normative research program, can bring to the Political Theory of the European Union. However, there is still work to be done concerning what Besson and Martí (2009) have called Legal Republicanism, namely with regard to the rights specifically foreseen in EU law as citizenship rights. Indeed, a substantial part of citizenship rights are expressly provided for in primary law (TFEU and Charter of Fundamental Rights). It is appropriate to evaluate whether the emergence and development of these rights have contributed in any way to the satisfaction of proper republican concerns, or if, by contrast as some scholarship argues, they have been aligned with strong libertarian claims.
Free movement is paramount here. Being the most important of the citizenship rights, we should ask whether it attains substantive and procedural standards to be considered republican law (Besson and Martí, 2009). Similarly, one can say the same about the principle of equality and prohibition of discrimination. The characterization and conceptual framing of these rights will be decisive in the evaluation of European integration from a republican perspective.
Thus, many questions remain open about this evaluation and its significance within this tradition of thought. This panel aims at further exploring this and all related topics.
We welcome contributions that address, but are not limited to, the following questions:
- From a republican perspective, does EU citizenship meet the criteria to be considered as such?
- Is EU citizenship excessively oriented towards the market?
- Is it possible to frame the rights attached to EU citizenship in such a way as to make them compatible with republican concerns?
- If we understand market-citizenship as a problem, what help, if any, can we expect from the European Court of Justice?
- Does EU Law have specific characteristics deserving a specific understanding of the substantive and procedural standards of legal republicanism?
This panel also intends to discuss Republicanism broadly conceived. Hereby, we invite contributions from researchers who wish to present their work in the field of Republicanism in general.
