TY - JOUR
T1 - Free Movement and Participation in the Parliamentary Elections in the Member State of Nationality
T2 - An Ignored Link?
AU - Kochenov, Dimitry
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2009 SAGE Publications.
PY - 2009/6/1
Y1 - 2009/6/1
N2 - Making use of the European citizenship rights should not deprive EU citizens of the possibility of political participation at the Member State level. According to Article 19(1) EC, EU citizens may vote in municipal elections in their host Member State, not in the national elections. Consequently, EU citizens who benefited from the Article 18 EC right (or similar lex specialis rights) and moved to another Member State, effectively lose their right to participate in politics at the crucial Member State level if their Member State of nationality disallows expatriate voting, which is the case (de iure or de facto) in a number of Member States. This article assesses the legality of this situation in the light of Community Law. Building on the assumption that the Member States will be unwilling to change the Treaties to allow for full political participation of EU citizens at the national level in their Member States of residence, other possibilities to solve the outstanding problem are sought and analysed.
AB - Making use of the European citizenship rights should not deprive EU citizens of the possibility of political participation at the Member State level. According to Article 19(1) EC, EU citizens may vote in municipal elections in their host Member State, not in the national elections. Consequently, EU citizens who benefited from the Article 18 EC right (or similar lex specialis rights) and moved to another Member State, effectively lose their right to participate in politics at the crucial Member State level if their Member State of nationality disallows expatriate voting, which is the case (de iure or de facto) in a number of Member States. This article assesses the legality of this situation in the light of Community Law. Building on the assumption that the Member States will be unwilling to change the Treaties to allow for full political participation of EU citizens at the national level in their Member States of residence, other possibilities to solve the outstanding problem are sought and analysed.
KW - EU citizenship
KW - democracy
KW - free movement
KW - nationality
KW - political representation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84992132514&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1023263X0901600204
DO - 10.1177/1023263X0901600204
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84992132514
SN - 1023-263X
VL - 16
SP - 197
EP - 223
JO - Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law
JF - Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law
IS - 2
ER -