Whose citizenship to empower in the area of freedom, security and justice? The act of mobility and litigation in the enactment of European citizenship. CEPS Liberty and Security, May 2010

The Stockholm Programme and the European Commission's Action Plan implementing it have positioned the freedom, security and justice of ‘European citizens’ at the heart of the EU's political agenda for the next five years. Yet, who are the 'citizens' about whom the Council and the European Commission are so interested? At first sight it would appear as if only those individuals holding the nationality of a member state would fall within this category. This paper challenges this assumption, however, and argues that as a consequence of litigation by individuals before EU courts and of the growing importance given to the act of mobility in citizenship and immigration law, the personal scope of the freedoms accorded to European citizenship already covers certain categories of third-country nationals (TCNs). Through an examination of selected landmark rulings of the Court of Justice in Luxembourg, the paper demonstrates how the requirement of being a national of an EU member state is progressively becoming less important when defining the boundaries of the European citizenry. TCNs already enjoy and benefit from a number of European citizenship-related and citizenship-like freedoms, rights, benefits and general principles, which are subject to protection and scrutiny at the EU level. This development, we argue, is not only an indication of a continuing loss of discretionary power by the nation-state with respect to European citizenship, but may also constitute a clear signal that a new European citizenship of TCNs is in the making in the Union. This citizenship places the freedom to move and non-discrimination on the basis of nationality at the core of its identity

Reaching out : the external dimension of the EU’s migration policy : a comparative study on India and Australia

CARIM-India: Developing a knowledge base for policymaking on India-EU migrationThis paper seeks to examine the external dimension of the EU’s migration policy by concentrating, first, on the EU’s legal framework in the area of migration followed by an analysis of the policy developments under the GAMM. In a second step, this paper depicts the EU relations with India and Australia, respectively, in terms of migration matters with a view to explore how the EU has defined its current positions towards these two third countries in form of a comparative case study. India and Australia have been selected for an analysis because the migration flows prevailing in each state vary and the level of economic development differs notably. While Australia has always been an immigration country and maintains traditional ties with the European continent, India has only recently emerged as a major country of emigration to the EU. Yet, the EU constitutes a major partner for both countries. Finally, some conclusive remarks are made on the diverging migration rules for third-country nationals from India and Australia.CARIM-India is co-financed by the European University Institute and the European Unio

Making Europe More Attractive to Indian Highly-skilled Migrants? The blue card directive and national law in Germany and the Netherlands

CARIM-India is co-financed by the European University Institute and the European Union.Despite the potentially significant societal and labour market implications of highly-skilled migration policies in Europe, the new dynamics have only been subject to few inquisitive studies in the academic literature, none of them discussing the case of Indian migrants specifically. This paper seeks to close this gap by comparing the national schemes and programmes for highly-skilled migration in two EU Member States that have become increasingly important for Indian migrants, namely the Netherlands and Germany and analysing the newly introduced provisions of the EU Blue Card Directive. The findings will lead to conclusions on whether the implementation of the EU Blue Card Directive renders immigration to the Netherlands and Germany more attractive for highly skilled migrants from India.CARIM-India: Developing a knowledge base for policymaking on India-EU migratio

The importance of article 11 TFEU for regulating business in the EU: securing the very basis of our existence

states thatEnvironmental protection requirements must be integrated into thedefinition and implementation of the Union policies and activities, inparticular with a view to promoting sustainable development.This rule encapsulates a legal principle that constitutes one of the mostimportant elements of EU environmental law.2 Indeed, Article 11 TFEU is arguablyone of the fundamentally most important provisions in EU treaty law asa whole. Integrating environmental protection in all areas to the extentnecessary to secure sustainable development is a prerequisite to securing thevery basis of our existence. Economic development and social welfare or, asformulated as an objective of EU law: achieving ‘a highly competitive socialmarket economy, aiming at full employment and social progress’, is in the longrun fully dependent on the stability of our ecosystems

Why should public procurement be about sustainability

Public procurement law, the rules regulating purchase of goods and serviceby public agencies, is an area of great economic interest. In the EuropeanUnion, total public expenditure on goods, works and services amountedto over €2,400 billion in 2010.1 While the main focus on the EU level hasbeen on facilitating competition, transparency, non-discrimination andanti-corruption,2 the last decade has seen a growing recognition of theimportance of employing economic drivers to promote overarching societalgoals. Next to the objective of increasing the simplicity and flexibilityof EU public procurement law, a major aim of the 2014 ProcurementDirectives of the EU3 is to enlarge the possibilities for using public procurementin support of broader social and environmental goals