Reframing EU citizenship as stakeholder constituency, or why the Court of Justice got it right on economically inactive EU citizens

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to reconstruct the concept of EU citizenship as stakeholder constituency. In doing so, it departs from the notion of citizenship as a bundle of rights presumed to be conferred to individuals solely by virtue of their nationality or membership in a demos. Drawing on systems theory, EU citizenship is reframed as stakeholder constituency which involves the rights and obligations that enable actors to participate in the functions of social systems and, in particular, within the economic system of the Union. The argument is illustrated by critically evaluating the CJEU’s case law on economically inactive citizens and their entitlement to social assistance, with a focus on the post-Dano decisions. The analysis reflects the assumption that much of the legal debate has overemphasized the potential of EU citizenship to increase social solidarity and to formulate a common social identity at the supranational level. In this light, the chapter demonstrates that there has not been an unjustified turn in the Court’s approach towards a significantly more restrictive interpretation of the scope of citizenship and explains why the Court ‘got it right’ in its recent jurisprudence.