A thing that affects a bit what I wrote in previous post is a question of a citizenship. If a federation should arise in Europe, a question of federal citizenship will arise. This is a question unknown to present European unification; the Lisbon Treaty speaks about the citizenship of the European Union but the European Union is not a state and therefore this thing is actually unreasonable in the treaty (an international organization cannot have its citizenship; with other words, nobody can be a citizen of an international organization).
In this post, I will be interested in a question which should be a relation between the citizenship of the European federation and the one of its member states for foreign persons, that is the rule of naturalization; I will not deal with that how the particular requirements for obtaining the federal citizenship should be, it will be a matter of a specific law and it can vary in the time. So, starting possibilities are three: a) the federation will give the federal citizenship and the citizenship of the member states will be derived from it; b) the member states will give their citizenship and the federal citizenship will be derived from it; c) the federation and the member states will give their citizenship independently on each other. The first case would mean that the member states would be dependent on the federation in giving their citizenship, the second case would mean that the federation in the same thing would be dependent on its member states.
The citizenship of the federation can be defined as an automatic counterpart of the citizenships of the member states, that is to say that everybody obtains automatically the federal citizenship who obtained the citizenship of some member state of the federation. This way the situation will have to be realized in the moment of arising of the federation (and it will have to be written in the federal constitution – in section Final and transitional provisions; the federal citizenship cannot be given otherwise to the Europeans in the beginning) but the question is whether it should be valid as a permanency. If we admit this version, it would mean that the member states will be who would decide about the membership of the federation – because who would accept their citizenship would obtain in addition also the citizenship of the federation. It would mean that the federation would not have any control over it who obtains its citizenship. If we look around if some federation has such (or similar) method of giving its citizenship, we find one and just that one which usually is a pattern for the federalists in Europe – Switzerland. We can read in chapter 37 of its constitution that anyone who is a citizen of a commune and of the Canton (= member state) to which that commune belongs is a Swiss citizen. It looks at first appearance that the federation is held in captivity of its member states (“cantons”), the situation is however not so easy how it can look from the provision of this article. For the next article – 38 – brings a complement: the federation shall legislate on the minimum requirements for the naturalization of foreign nationals by the Cantons. So we can see that the federation rejects to be fully dependent on its member states in this matter and that it specifies to its member states at least partially what should be the regulations according to that they give their citizenship. It is logical because in other case the federal citizenship would not have the same importance at all its holders – some people could obtain the federal citizenship more easily than the others due to some member states, and inequality would arise. The consequence of this concept however is that neither the federation nor the member states can freely decide about it who they accept as their citizen – each side restricts free activity of the other.
Other concept can be found in the second of the patterns for the European federalists, in the United States of America (a typical European representative of this concept is Austria). It is written in section 8 of article 1 of the USA constitution that the federal parliament shall have power to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, then in amendment 14 is written that all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. Here, unlike in Switzerland, the member states are subordinate to the federation in the question of the citizenship; no member state cannot give its citizenship to anybody who had not already obtained the citizenship of the federation. The member states cannot actually influence at all who will get their citizenship because they must give it to every citizen of the federation who will settle in them. The member states are weaker here than the federation in the first concept because in the first concept, the federation gives its citizenship only to that one who has obtained the citizenship of some of its member states, but itself can order to its member states what should be the minimal requirements that an applicant for their citizenship has to meet – on the other hand, in the second concept, the member states cannot order nothing to the federation.
We are coming to a question now, how this matter should be regulated in the European federation – whether to select the concept where the citizenship of the federation should be preferred to that one of the member states or on the contrary the concept where the citizenship of the member states should be preferred to that one of the federation or whether another concept should be adopted.
I assume that the concept which is in the United States of America (and in European federations, maybe except in Bosnia and Herzegovina) is inappropriate for Europe. I will cite from the article A European citizenship in a European federation published in the web Federal Union: Why do different countries have different political systems? Because the political system is not simply a narrow literal expression of the rules by which a country is governed. It is an expression of the culture of a country. It shapes that culture too. But then most cultural phenomena both influence and are influenced by the societies in which they exist. If the political system is different one country from another, so is the citizenship. Citizenship is part of that political system, it is a reflection of it. Yes, Europe forms not one cultural nation like the USA or Austria, on the contrary - it is very diverse in culture and this diversity ought not to be disturbed by the European federation (see my proposal of the preamble of the federal constitution). Giving its own citizenship according to own deliberation belongs to cultural distinction of every European state, none of them ought to be compelled to accept as a citizen everybody who will move in its territory.
However, I want not to say with it that the European federation should adhere to the concept of Switzerland or even the intergovernmental one of present EU (where the European citizenship is merely symbolic without any real signification) – the federal citizenship cannot be only an adjunct to the citizenship of the member states as the author of a “federal” European constitution proposes in its article 4. In my opinion every state (and federation is a state) should have full control over it to whom it gives its citizenship. Therefore it seems fatuous to me that a citizenship of the federation exists but the member states in fact decide on it, though maybe (as in Switzerland) according to instructions of the federation. I believe on that account that the European federation and its member states should give their citizenships independently on each other and only one limitation should be that the member states may not give their citizenship to anybody who has not the federal citizenship.
One thing follows from this: in such arrangement some persons will certainly occur who will have the citizenship of the federation but not the one of any member state, either temporarily because they did not yet meet conditions for obtaining the citizenship of the state in that they settled, or constantly because they will not aspire after it – such possibility cannot be excluded, on the contrary, it is likely. The question is whether it is undesirable or it is not. I believe that it can make some problem chiefly in social domain but the people without citizenship of any member state will live in a concrete member state and will therefore follow its laws; in addition federal rules on employment conditions and social care for employees of federal administrative will have to exist and the people lacking citizenship of any member states can be add to people in that category in case of necessity. There is also no need of having fear that basic human rights would be removed from people without citizenship of any member state and with only federal citizenship – these rights will be protected by a bill of basic rights which will be part of the federal constitution and which will be in force in all federation territory and valid for all citizens of the federation regardless of their member state citizenship.
The concept seems to me really the best that both the federation on the one side and the member states on the other side will give their citizenship independently on each other regardless of that this concept is (maybe) unusual. Such concept is in force perhaps in Bosnia and Herzegovina too, I am of that opinion from the Law on Citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Law on citizenship of Republika Srpska (one of its member states, so called „entities“). I judge from these two laws that citizenship of any of its member states is not a condition for naturalization in Bosnia and Herzegovina nor citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina is not a condition for acquisition of citizenship of any its member state (“entity”). It is written that a citizen of a member state (“entity”) becomes herewith a citizen of the federation but I did not find a converse provision in neither mentioned law. It is therefore possible that conditions in Bosnia and Herzegovina are the same as those which would be in the European federation if the rules about its citizenship that I have described would be enforced. From the perspective of the constitution, these rules would not demand any mention about the member states citizenship except of that I have already talked about, namely that the member states will not be able to give its citizenship to anybody who holds not the federal citizenship, about the citizenship of the federation only that giving the citizenship of the federation will be fully in power of the federation (maybe with addition that the federal citizenship can be obtained by birth, descent, adoption, marriage and naturalization).
In this post, I will be interested in a question which should be a relation between the citizenship of the European federation and the one of its member states for foreign persons, that is the rule of naturalization; I will not deal with that how the particular requirements for obtaining the federal citizenship should be, it will be a matter of a specific law and it can vary in the time. So, starting possibilities are three: a) the federation will give the federal citizenship and the citizenship of the member states will be derived from it; b) the member states will give their citizenship and the federal citizenship will be derived from it; c) the federation and the member states will give their citizenship independently on each other. The first case would mean that the member states would be dependent on the federation in giving their citizenship, the second case would mean that the federation in the same thing would be dependent on its member states.
The citizenship of the federation can be defined as an automatic counterpart of the citizenships of the member states, that is to say that everybody obtains automatically the federal citizenship who obtained the citizenship of some member state of the federation. This way the situation will have to be realized in the moment of arising of the federation (and it will have to be written in the federal constitution – in section Final and transitional provisions; the federal citizenship cannot be given otherwise to the Europeans in the beginning) but the question is whether it should be valid as a permanency. If we admit this version, it would mean that the member states will be who would decide about the membership of the federation – because who would accept their citizenship would obtain in addition also the citizenship of the federation. It would mean that the federation would not have any control over it who obtains its citizenship. If we look around if some federation has such (or similar) method of giving its citizenship, we find one and just that one which usually is a pattern for the federalists in Europe – Switzerland. We can read in chapter 37 of its constitution that anyone who is a citizen of a commune and of the Canton (= member state) to which that commune belongs is a Swiss citizen. It looks at first appearance that the federation is held in captivity of its member states (“cantons”), the situation is however not so easy how it can look from the provision of this article. For the next article – 38 – brings a complement: the federation shall legislate on the minimum requirements for the naturalization of foreign nationals by the Cantons. So we can see that the federation rejects to be fully dependent on its member states in this matter and that it specifies to its member states at least partially what should be the regulations according to that they give their citizenship. It is logical because in other case the federal citizenship would not have the same importance at all its holders – some people could obtain the federal citizenship more easily than the others due to some member states, and inequality would arise. The consequence of this concept however is that neither the federation nor the member states can freely decide about it who they accept as their citizen – each side restricts free activity of the other.
Other concept can be found in the second of the patterns for the European federalists, in the United States of America (a typical European representative of this concept is Austria). It is written in section 8 of article 1 of the USA constitution that the federal parliament shall have power to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, then in amendment 14 is written that all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. Here, unlike in Switzerland, the member states are subordinate to the federation in the question of the citizenship; no member state cannot give its citizenship to anybody who had not already obtained the citizenship of the federation. The member states cannot actually influence at all who will get their citizenship because they must give it to every citizen of the federation who will settle in them. The member states are weaker here than the federation in the first concept because in the first concept, the federation gives its citizenship only to that one who has obtained the citizenship of some of its member states, but itself can order to its member states what should be the minimal requirements that an applicant for their citizenship has to meet – on the other hand, in the second concept, the member states cannot order nothing to the federation.
We are coming to a question now, how this matter should be regulated in the European federation – whether to select the concept where the citizenship of the federation should be preferred to that one of the member states or on the contrary the concept where the citizenship of the member states should be preferred to that one of the federation or whether another concept should be adopted.
I assume that the concept which is in the United States of America (and in European federations, maybe except in Bosnia and Herzegovina) is inappropriate for Europe. I will cite from the article A European citizenship in a European federation published in the web Federal Union: Why do different countries have different political systems? Because the political system is not simply a narrow literal expression of the rules by which a country is governed. It is an expression of the culture of a country. It shapes that culture too. But then most cultural phenomena both influence and are influenced by the societies in which they exist. If the political system is different one country from another, so is the citizenship. Citizenship is part of that political system, it is a reflection of it. Yes, Europe forms not one cultural nation like the USA or Austria, on the contrary - it is very diverse in culture and this diversity ought not to be disturbed by the European federation (see my proposal of the preamble of the federal constitution). Giving its own citizenship according to own deliberation belongs to cultural distinction of every European state, none of them ought to be compelled to accept as a citizen everybody who will move in its territory.
However, I want not to say with it that the European federation should adhere to the concept of Switzerland or even the intergovernmental one of present EU (where the European citizenship is merely symbolic without any real signification) – the federal citizenship cannot be only an adjunct to the citizenship of the member states as the author of a “federal” European constitution proposes in its article 4. In my opinion every state (and federation is a state) should have full control over it to whom it gives its citizenship. Therefore it seems fatuous to me that a citizenship of the federation exists but the member states in fact decide on it, though maybe (as in Switzerland) according to instructions of the federation. I believe on that account that the European federation and its member states should give their citizenships independently on each other and only one limitation should be that the member states may not give their citizenship to anybody who has not the federal citizenship.
One thing follows from this: in such arrangement some persons will certainly occur who will have the citizenship of the federation but not the one of any member state, either temporarily because they did not yet meet conditions for obtaining the citizenship of the state in that they settled, or constantly because they will not aspire after it – such possibility cannot be excluded, on the contrary, it is likely. The question is whether it is undesirable or it is not. I believe that it can make some problem chiefly in social domain but the people without citizenship of any member state will live in a concrete member state and will therefore follow its laws; in addition federal rules on employment conditions and social care for employees of federal administrative will have to exist and the people lacking citizenship of any member states can be add to people in that category in case of necessity. There is also no need of having fear that basic human rights would be removed from people without citizenship of any member state and with only federal citizenship – these rights will be protected by a bill of basic rights which will be part of the federal constitution and which will be in force in all federation territory and valid for all citizens of the federation regardless of their member state citizenship.
The concept seems to me really the best that both the federation on the one side and the member states on the other side will give their citizenship independently on each other regardless of that this concept is (maybe) unusual. Such concept is in force perhaps in Bosnia and Herzegovina too, I am of that opinion from the Law on Citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Law on citizenship of Republika Srpska (one of its member states, so called „entities“). I judge from these two laws that citizenship of any of its member states is not a condition for naturalization in Bosnia and Herzegovina nor citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina is not a condition for acquisition of citizenship of any its member state (“entity”). It is written that a citizen of a member state (“entity”) becomes herewith a citizen of the federation but I did not find a converse provision in neither mentioned law. It is therefore possible that conditions in Bosnia and Herzegovina are the same as those which would be in the European federation if the rules about its citizenship that I have described would be enforced. From the perspective of the constitution, these rules would not demand any mention about the member states citizenship except of that I have already talked about, namely that the member states will not be able to give its citizenship to anybody who holds not the federal citizenship, about the citizenship of the federation only that giving the citizenship of the federation will be fully in power of the federation (maybe with addition that the federal citizenship can be obtained by birth, descent, adoption, marriage and naturalization).
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