Nic Shuibhne, Niamh --- "The right to move and reside: disentangling the dual dynamics of fundamental rights in EU citizenship law" [2017] ELECD 968; in Douglas-Scott, Sionaidh; Hatzis, Nicholas (eds), "Research Handbook on EU Law and Human Rights" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) 99

Book Title: Research Handbook on EU Law and Human Rights

Editor(s): Douglas-Scott, Sionaidh; Hatzis, Nicholas

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781782546399

Section: Chapter 4

Section Title: The right to move and reside: disentangling the dual dynamics of fundamental rights in EU citizenship law

Author(s): Nic Shuibhne, Niamh

Number of pages: 21

Abstract/Description:

Union citizenship puts a frame around the rights of individuals in EU law, representing the ‘fundamental status of nationals of the Member States’. In the same paragraph, the Court emphasised the principle of non-discrimination, ‘enabling those who find themselves in the same situation to enjoy the same treatment in law irrespective of their nationality’. These statements provide the value foundations of Union citizenship, reflecting the classic vision outlined by AG Jacobs in Konstantinidis. But his template had another dimension too: [A] Community national who goes to another Member State as a worker or self-employed person … is entitled not just to pursue his trade or profession and to enjoy the same living and working conditions as nationals of the host State; he is in addition entitled to assume that, wherever he goes to earn his living in the European Community, he will be treated in accordance with a common code of fundamental values, in particular those laid down in the European Convention on Human Rights. In other words, he is entitled to say ‘civis europeus sum’ and to invoke that status in order to oppose any violation of his fundamental rights. The right to move and reside freely within the territory of the member states is included in both Article 20(2) and Article 21(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). It is the linchpin of Union citizenship; as well as constituting a powerful part of the promise of equal treatment that the EU Treaties make.