This is the second in a series of briefings looking into the role of the European Parliament in the development of European citizenship, ranging from the 1972 Paris Summit to the 2003 Draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. The present briefing focuses on the period from the 1984 Fontainebleau Summit to the 1992 Maastricht Treaty. This was a pivotal period that shaped the concept of European citizenship as it is understood today. This briefing delves into the critical role played by the European Parliament in shaping the discourse on European citizenship during this time. Building on its earlier work with the 1984 Draft Treaty on European Union, the Parliament sought to elevate European citizenship from a set of market-oriented rights to a cornerstone of a democratic European community. Despite facing resistance, particularly in maintaining the status quo of citizenship as an extension of national rights, Parliament, with the support of key allies such as the European Commission under Jacques Delors and the Spanish government, succeeded in securing the legal establishment of European citizenship in the Maastricht Treaty. This period marked a significant discursive shift, recognising citizenship as more than just a by-product of the internal market, but as a foundational element of the European Union's identity and legitimacy.
Authors
- Pages
- 10
- Published in
- Belgium
Table of Contents
- The European Parliament and the development of European citizenship 1
- From Fontainebleau to Maastricht (1984-1992) 1
- Summary 1
- Introduction 2
- The Fontainebleau Summit and 'A People's Europe' 2
- Figure 1 – Group photo during the Fontainebleau European Council, 1984 2
- Figure 2 – Pietro Adonnino speaking during a plenary session, 1981 4
- Free movement and the Single European Act 5
- Figure 3 – Robert Goebbels signs the Schengen Agreement, 1985 6
- The Maastricht Treaty 7
- Figure 4 – Jean-Pierre Cot, David Martin and Klaus Hänsch during the Intergovernmental Conference, 1991 9
- Conclusion 9
- In that sense, Parliament addressed aspects of European citizenship that were often left out of the strongly rights-focused discussions among Member States. However, as the Bindi II Report lamented, these issues were almost entirely disregarded in the final negotiations of the Maastricht Treaty, which – in line with the approach taken in previous decades – focused on citizenship as a set of rights additional to Member State nationality, but did not explicitly address issues of solidarity or belonging at the level of the individual citizen. 9
- MAIN REFERENCES 10
- ENDNOTES 10
- DISCLAIMER AND COPYRIGHT 10
