CIAO DATE: 07/02

Extending Citizenship Rights to Third Country Nationals

Abstract

Various issues arise in the European context with respect to the boundaries of citizenship; one of the main questions is to what extent the division between the European Union citizens and third country nationals will increase, especially if "deepening" of the Union leads to more tightening of its external borders. This paper addresses the question of how far citizenship rights can be extended to third country migrants in the EU?

The paper is divided into two parts; the first is a brief theoretical approach to questions about the parameters of citizenship in the EU. The second part focuses on Italy and Spain as new receiving states affected by North\South migration in the Mediterranean (their policies, people's attitudes, internal distribution of migrants, etc.) and compares their current position with the countries who have had a tradition of labour immigration since the1960s. It contrasts policy and practice vis-à-vis Maghrebi nationals in these two countries, although both are Mediterranean states in close geographical proximity to North Africa. The analysis suggests that the problems encountered by the different Mediterreanean EU members have, in some respects, to be treated on an individual basis.

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