The Absence of Integration and the Responsibilisation of Union Citizenship

Printer-friendly version

Table of Contents: I. Introduction. – II. Union citizenship as a status of integration: being and time and the passive citizen. – III. The reactive turn: the indigent and the criminal and the absence of integration – III.1. Economic activity and access to social benefits. – III.2. Crime and integration. – IV. Qualitative criteria of integration and the rise of the responsibilised citizen.

Abstract: Union citizenship has witnessed a reactive turn in recent years with citizens' rights being more easily restricted. Key to this development is a shift in the use of the concept of integration. This article traces this development through two key areas of law, namely access to social benefits and the effect of criminal behaviour on citizens' rights. It further argues that this shift in the use of integration entails a greater emphasis on the agency of the individual and the responsibilisation of the citizen. An image of the “good EU citizen” emerges as productive and law-abiding.

Keywords: EU citizenship – social benefits – criminal law – agency – Directive 2004/38/EC – responsibilisation.

--------------------
European Papers, Vol. 3, 2018, No 2, pp. 761-780
ISSN
2499-8249 - doi: 10.15166/2499-8249/254

* Lecturer in Law, School of Law, University College Cork, stephen.coutts@ucc.ie.

e-Journal

European Forum

e-Journal

Forum Européen

e-Journal

Forum europeo

e-Journal

Foro Europeo