Union Citizenship as a Source of Rights? Case C- 434/09, Shirley McCarthy v Secretary of State for the Home Department, Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) 5 May 2011, nyr

McCarthy attempted to rely upon rights under Directive 2004/38 within a home state, but this was not a straightforward case of a purely internal situation, the applicant having acquired Irish nationality and claiming that she was a Union citizen living within the UK as a host Member State. The use of dual citizenship as a potential linking element with Union law follows from earlier developments in citizenship case law. Union citizenship has helped those who do not fully meet requirements of secondary legislation. The 'trigger' of cross- border movement has been weakened to some extent in the identity cases, and others such as Carpenter. McCarthy's attempt to rely upon Union law without ever having moved, just by being a Union citizen, gave the Court of Justice of the European Union a chance to dispel ideas that being a dual Member State national was automatically a linking factor with EU law.