The Triangle of EU Citizenship

Imagine that ‘Eurostars’, ‘second class EU citizens’ and ‘non-EU citizens’ are the vertices of a triangle. The tension between these three categories creates the core of what EU citizenship means. In order to comprehend the meaning and implications of EU citizenship, attention needs to be paid not only to those who are full beneficiaries of this status and to those completely excluded from it, but also to a third category, that of ‘second class EU citizens’, legally included but socially, politically and sometimes ethnically excluded. ‘Eurostars’, understood as highly skilled and mobile workers and students, benefit to a greater extent from the EU free movement rights. On the opposite side, for some EU citizens such as Roma citizens –EU’s biggest minority– the EU citizen status sometimes acquires an ethnic dimension which hinders their freedom of movement and settlement (as was the case in France from 2010 onwards). Finally, there is the category of third country nationals who, at first glance, have a more precarious status than their fellow EU immigrants. However, I argue that, de facto, some EEA but non EU citizens- have a better status than the expelled Roma. Moreover, the divide between ‘Eurostars’ and ‘second class EU citizens’ is maintained as a form of resistance to the equalizing power traditionally attributed to citizenship. I argue that this discrimination is actually reinforced by the EU right of free movement. This research uses Bourdieu’s approach to symbolic power and claims that the EU institutions have the power of naming and classifying. On the one hand, I analyze the specific European programmes that target these migrants- Erasmus Plus, EU Roma Framework and EU Agenda on Migration- in an attempt to see whether the three categories are differently framed. On the other hand, I interview Eurostars, expelled Roma EU citizens and nationals from Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway. I capture the tensions comprised by EU citizenship, place the latter in relation to the right of free movement and inquire about its added value.