Did the Financial Crisis Change European Citizenship Law? An Analysis of Citizenship Rights Adjudication Before and After the Financial Crisis

This article analyses the impact of the 2007-2008 global financial crisis on the adjudication of EU citizenship rights, combining long-term quantitative empirical legal study with qualitative socio-legal analysis. We find that, first, the Court of Justice of the EU continues to interpret the provisions of the treaty and secondary legislation broadly and reaches largely pro-individual outcomes in its citizenship case-law. Second, it has however, been more explicit in drawing the line between core citizenship rights of European citizens, such as the primary rights to move and reside freely, and the rights that are tied to these core citizenship rights, including social security and social advantages and the rights of Third Country Nationals, which they derive from their relationship with EU citizens on the other hand. On this basis, we conclude that the economic crisis has had limited impact on EU citizenship law and remained confined to the edges of the notion of EU citizenship.