Citizenship:Contrasting Dynamics at the Interface of Integration and Constitutionalism

EUDO Citizenship ObservatoryThis paper explores the different ways in which citizenship has played a role in polity formation in the context of the European Union. It focuses on both the ‘integration’ and the ‘constitution’ dimensions. The paper thus has two substantive sections. The first addresses the role of citizenship of the Union, examining the dynamic relationship between this concept, the role of the Court of Justice, and the free movement dynamic of EU law. The second turns to citizenship in the Union, looking at some recent political developments under which concepts of citizenship, and democratic membership as a key dimension of citizenship, have been given greater prominence. One key finding of the paper is that there is a tension between citizenship of the Union, as part of the EU's ‘old’ incremental constitutionalism based on the constitutionalisation of the existing Treaties, and citizenship in the Union, where the possibilities of a ‘new’ constitutionalism based on renewed constitutional documents have yet to be fully realise

Fate of Adsorbed U(VI) during Sulfidization of Lepidocrocite and Hematite

The impact on U(VI) adsorbed to lepidocrocite (gamma-FeOOH) and hematite (alpha-Fe2O3) was assessed when exposed to aqueous sulfide (S(II)(aq)) at pH 8.0. With both minerals, competition between S(-II) and U(VI) for surface sites caused instantaneous release of adsorbed U(VI). Compared to lepidocrocite, consumption of S(-II)(aq) proceeded slower with hematite, but yielded maximum dissolved U concentrations that were more than 10 times higher, representing about one-third of the initially adsorbed U. Prolonged presence of S(-II)(aq) in experiments with hematite in combination with a larger release of adsorbed U(VI), enhanced the reduction of U(VI): after 24 h of reaction about 60-70% of U was in the form of U(W), much higher than the 2S% detected in the lepidocrocite suspensions. X-ray absorption spectra indicated that U(IV) in both hematite and lepidocrocite suspensions was not in the form of uraninite (UO2). Upon exposure to oxygen only part of U(IV) reoxidized, suggesting that monomeric U(W) might have become incorporated newly formed iron precipitates. sulfidization of Fe oxides can have diverse consequences for U mobility: in short-term, desorption of U(VI) increases U mobility, while reduction to U(W) and its possible incorporation in Fe transformation products may lead to long-term U immobilization.European Union's European Atomic Energy Community's (Euratom) Seventh Framework Programme FP7 [212287

Rethinking “democratic backsliding” in Central and Eastern Europe – looking beyond Hungary and Poland

This essay introduces contributions to a special issue of East European Politics on “Rethinking democratic backsliding in Central and Eastern Europe”, which seeks to expand the study of democratic regression in CEE beyond the paradigmatic cases of Hungary and Poland. Reviewing these contributions, we identify several directions for research: 1) the need to critique “democratic backsliding”, not simply as a label, but also as an assumed regional trend; 2) a need to better integrate the role of illiberal socio-economic structures such as oligarchical structures or corrupt networks; and 3) a need to (re-)examine the trade-offs between democratic stability and democratic quality. We also note how insights developed researching post-communist regions such as Western Balkans or the post-Soviet space could usefully inform work on CEE backsliding. We conclude by calling for the study of CEE democracy to become more genuinely interdisciplinary, moving beyond some narrowly institutionalist comparative political science assumptions

Europe and the political: from axiological monism to pluralistic dialogism

“The political” represents a moment in which actors recognise autonomy and equality as constitutive values in the agonistic search for appropriate open-ended political outcomes. The tutelary, pedagogical and disciplinary practices of the depoliticised European Union (EU) undermine the foundations of equality in diplomatic and political engagement between continental actors. The relationship becomes axiological, where issues are deemed to have been resolved through some sort of anterior pre-political arrangement. This is a type of ahistorical political monism that ultimately claims to speak for all of Europe. The return of “the political” allows a more generous and pluralistic politics to emerge based on genuine dialogical foundations in which self and other engage as equals and are mutually transformed by that engagement

Against associate EU citizenship

UK nationals will lose their EU citizenship status as a result of the Brexit referendum. To prevent this, several commentators, including the European Parliament Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt, proposed to grant associate EU citizenship to UK nationals to safeguard their rights as EU citizens after Brexit. We make the case against associate EU citizenship, dismissing it on three grounds. First, it violates the letter and the spirit of EU law. Second, it violates core EU values, including the EU's promise to respect the constitutional traditions of member states and the values of democracy and the rule of law. Third, it is against EU's interests, as associate EU citizenship fails to respect reciprocity in EU relations with third countries and undermines the coherence of the edifice of EU constitutionalism

A critical perspective on associate EU citizenship after Brexit

UK nationals will lose their EU citizenship status as a result of the Brexit referendum. To prevent this, several commentators, including the European Parliament Brexit negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt, proposed the grant of associate EU citizenship to UK nationals to safeguard their rights as EU citizens after Brexit. We make the case against associate EU citizenship, dismissing it on three grounds. First, it violates the letter and the spirit of EU law: the Treaties make the enjoyment of EU citizenship status contingent on the possession of a Member State nationality and require the Union to respect the rule of law as well as the constitutional traditions of the Member States. Second, it violates core EU values amounting to a tool for the EU to pre-empt vital democratic choices at the national level, thus undermining the established division of powers between the Union and the Member States as well as the effet utile of Article 50 TEU. Third, it is against the EU’s interests, as associate EU citizenship fails to respect reciprocity in EU relations with third countries and undermines the coherence of the edifice of EU constitutionalism. Besides being legally unsound he idea of associate EU citizenship thus fails on normative and on pragmatic grounds