Extracts from the Paper by Ruby Gropas, Based on the Research Conducted in the Context

Extracts from the paper by Ruby Gropas, based on the research conducted in the context of POLITIS research project on Building Europe with new Citizens, funded by the European Commission, DG Research (FP6)

Citizenship The concept of citizenship has various facets. For one, citizenship has a legal and functional dimension, conferring a specific set of political rights and duties to individuals. This is associated with a conception of status, i.e. of formal membership with access to civil, political and welfare rights and responsibilities. It is also associated with an attachment to a particular identity, specifically in the context of state-centred national citizenship

However, the way in which any given country defines the process and criteria through which citizenship is granted defines, to a large extent, where it places the boundaries between 'members' and 'aliens', between 'insiders' and 'outsiders.' This is in turn relevant to the current discussion across the EU on managing migration and migration-related diversity in contemporary European societies.

Undoubtedly, migration is a factor that has impacted significantly on the definition of citizenship policies in European countries. In effect, citizenship policies, or naturalisation processes, have gradually developed as instruments through which to: - integrate or (re)admit populations;4 - manage their entry, exit and stay; - grant specific rights to certain groups or restrict state obligations to others.5 How is this done in practice? Basically, through determining eligibility criteria for citizenship.

Time spent in the receiving country is one of the major criteria in determining eligibility. In effect, the required residence, period in most EU countries ranges between five to ten years for persons wishing to acquire the nationality of their country of residence in order to be able to apply for citizenship. Applications are evaluated on the basis of a number of individual and socio-economic criteria such as family ties and status, job stability, clear" penal record, language competence and other cultural requisites.

Migrants and citizenship rights

Returning to the legal dimension of citizenship, the status of citizenship is associated with the innermost core of rights and duties conferred by a state such as residence and related benefits, political rights including franchise and representation, as well as societal obligations such as military service, jury duty, taxation, etc. This is then followed by a 'weaker' set of rights and duties for other categories such as permanent or long-term residents; and even less for short-term residents or tourists.

Irregular migrants are unquestionably in the most precarious situation since access to rights implies a formal access to residence and legal presence in the receiving society. Nonetheless, irregular migrants can claim access to core human rights such as emergency healthcare, due process rights in court and public schooling for their children (Baubock 2005: 11). Regular immigrants (also referred to as legal foreign residents) have access to core civil rights including the right to family reunification in the country of residence, access to social insurance and public education, and property rights.

As regards civil and political rights of regular immigrants, this depends on national legislation in each member state. National legislation determines the forms of civic engagement that are open to citizens or third-country nationals. For example, setting up an association may be allowed to foreign nationals or it may be restricted to citizens only. This may lead immigrants to set up informal associations, or create and register associations under a different status (e.g. as cultural or neighbourhood associations or with the formal support of native citizens who may appear as founders of the immigrant association). Or, membership of so-called mainstream organizations (such as trade unions) may be permitted to residents and citizens alike, or just to the latter.

Political participation and representation tend to still be principally reserved for citizens, though there are exceptions. For one, nationals of an EU member state residing in another EU member state may vote and stand for elections in both local and EU Parliament elections but cannot participate at national level elections.6 Moreover, there is a significant number of EU Member States that have granted local franchise to non-EU residents (see table below). Table Immigrant voting rights in EU27 EU Member State Foreign nationals (non-EU nationals)

Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Have no voting rights (at local, Republic, France, Germany, national and EP elections) Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland Belgium. Estonia May vote in local elections only but cannot be elected Denmark, Finland, Ireland, The Non-discriminatory regime whereby all legal Netherlands, Sweden, immigrants may vote and stand for elections at the local level when certain requirements are fulfilled (for ex. regarding type of status in country and of a minimum duration, obligation to register to vote, etc). Malta, Portugal, Slovakia, Local enfranchisement is restricted to Slovenia, Spain, UK immigrants who hold citizenship of specific countries (ex. Commonwealth, countries with former colonial ties, etc).

Source: Based on Table 2 in Cyrus et al. (2006: 80) see also POLITIS project country reports (http://www.unioldenburg.de/politis-europe/fndex.html)

Read the text and give titles to each paragraph

Vocabulary: Citizen, citizenship, to grant, policy, naturalization, eligibility, requisites, to acquire, rights, duties, access to, welfare, restrict, obligations.

How many phrases can you make from these words (take a word from each column):

grant rights apply for duties acquire welfare access to responsibilities restrict citizenship Match the synonyms: naturalization acquiring citizenship host allowed home be elected long-term general healthcare involvement permitted legal foreign residents regular immigrants meet engagement of origin mainstream receiving stand for elections right to vote franchise short-term fulfil welfare

Fill in the following table:

Rights Type of immigrant/foreigner

Answer the Questions:

- Which countries of EU give more rights to their legal residents; - What rights do legal immigrants have as opposed to illegal ones? - Do you think the right to vote is the only reason for legal immigrants to apply for citizenship?