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Citizenship News

EUDO CITIZENSHIP offers a selection of media reports and news summaries on significant legislative changes, court decisions, policy developments, political campaigns or other events concerning citizenship in Europe and beyond.

We welcome suggestions for news items by our users. Proposals including the full text or internet link should be sent to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or to the Online Form. The EUDO CITIZENSHIP team will selectively publish news based on their significance and information content. We will not publish items whose content appears to be biased or otherwise problematic.

We will publish news in any European language if an English summary of the content is available.

 

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French ministerial decree determines new conditions for citizenship tests
By Roxana Barbulescu, EUDO CITIZENSHIP expert
 
France approved on Tuesday a new decree that changes the rules of access to French citizenship. As of July 2012, migrants who wish to naturalise will have to demonstrate knowledge of the French language, culture and history by  passing a multiple choice test. The applicants will be able to take the test free of charge.

Observers have put this change to the conditions of citizenship acquisition into the context of presidential elections to be held in April this year. A recent option poll revealed that nearly a third (31 percent) of the French "agree with the ideas of Front National" which is well known for its anti-immigrant rhetoric (hyperlink to the second article below). Claude Guéant, the French Minister of Interior  whose ministry will administer the test and who is from the same party as president Sarkozy, told the press in October 2011 that "when one is French, he has to integrate into the nationality (nationalité) and in the culture of our country, to respect its values".

Read the full news and the article on opinion poll in Le Monde.
 
Communist Party asks Romania to withdraw citizenship from Moldovan politicians with dual citizenship
by EUDO CITIZENSHIP expert Costica Dumbrava
 
A group of deputies belonging to the Communist Party of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM), now in opposition, asked Romanian ambassador in Chisinau to take measures in order to withdraw Romanian citizenship from several Moldovan-Romanian citizens who hold high positions in the Moldovan Parliament and the Moldovan Constitutional Court.
The request is based on allegations that the respective high officials are breaking Moldovan law by acting in the interests of a foreign country (Romania) and that they damage Romanian’s image abroad and threaten the relations between the two countries.
The issue of dual citizenship is a salient one in Moldovan politics. In April 2010 a decision of the European Court of Human Rights obliged Moldova to lift the ban on dual citizens from holding public posts.
Read article in Nine O’clock.ro
Also in Timpul [Romanian]
Read a summary of recent decisions of the European Court of Human Rights regarding Moldova-Romanian dual citizenship
 
A new citizenship law is due to replace Poland's law of 1962
by EUDO CITIZENSHIP expert Dorota Pudzianowska

On 18th January 2012, the Constitutional Tribunal decided that the new Polish citizenship law (the Nationality Law Act of 2 April 2009) does not violate the Constitution. According to the Tribunal, Article 30 of the new nationality law that gives new competences to regional governors (voivods) in the field of naturalisation does not violate the constitutional provision according to which 'the President confers nationality'.

The new law means that naturalisation matters will be dealt with in administrative procedure more often than under the 1962 citizenship law. Naturalisation cases handled by regional governors will constitute administrative decisions that have to be justified. In these cases, administrative and judicial reviews will be available.  The cases will have to be decided within a specified timeframe.

If the criteria stemming from Article 30 are met (e. g. time of stay, stable income, legal title to an apartment, knowledge of the Polish language) the foreigner will be entitled to Polish citizenship except if there is a threat to state security or defence.

Furthermore, material criteria for naturalisation will be less strict for certain categories of foreigners than in the law of 1962. The groups privileged in the new law are e.g. refugees, stateless persons and persons with relevant Polish background.

Finally, the Constitutional Tribunal has remarked that the new law presents an  'open vision of nationality'. The law was prepared in view of the ratification of the European Convention on Nationality of 1997.
 
Constitutional Court confirms Austrian citizenship for children born by American surrogate mother

by Rainer Bauböck (EUDO CITIZENSHIP co-director)


On 14 December 2011 the Austrian Constitutional Court decided in a case involving an American surrogate mother who had given birth to two children whose genetic parents are Austrian citizens residing in Vienna. After a removal of her uterus the Austrian mother could no longer bear children. The children became American citizens by birth in the USA and were recognized as the Austrian parents’ children by American courts. They were subsequently raised by their Austrian parents and registered as Austrian citizens by the city of Vienna. When the mother claimed child benefits, the Ministry of Interior asked the city of Vienna to withdraw or nullify the Austrian nationality of the children arguing that surrogate motherhood was illegal under Austrian law and that the American Court’s decision that the Austrian mother was the legal parent of the child could therefore not be recognized by Austria, under whose law the mother is the person giving birth to the child.


The Constitutional Court rejected this argument on four grounds. First, it pointed out that the American decision determining legal motherhood of the Austrian genetic mother was taken without reference to Austrian law and was valid under norms of international private law. Second, it rejected the argument that the Austrian law prohibiting surrogate motherhood was part of Austria’s public order (ordre publique), which could have allowed to override the American decision. The Court pointed out that the federal law on procreation medicine does neither have constitutional status nor protect fundamental rights.  Third, the Court stated that the American surrogate mother cannot be forced into the position of the legal mother against her will by Austrian law. Finally, it pointed out that the Ministry of Interior had decided arbitrarily by neglecting scholarly opinion and case law on ordre publique and by completely neglecting the welfare of the children as a relevant concern in determining their nationality.


Read the full judgment (in German language)

Read a summary report by Austrian Public TV (ORF)

 
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