Proposal to grant Spanish nationality to Sephardic Jews – History of Sephardic Jews in Iberia – Sephardim and the Portuguese nationality code – The EU and the nationality laws of the member states – Impact of Union law on the acquisition of Iberian nationalities by Sephardic Jews – European Convention on Nationality – Sephardim from third countries – Micheletti – Nottebohm

This paper analyses the mutual influence and self-perpetuating cycle of legitimacy of EU legal scholars and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in expanding and broadening the free movement rights of Union citizens and their family members. It is argued that legal scholars have played a dual role in promoting the constitutional paradigm of an ever-expanding scope of directly enforceable residence and movement rights in the EU. First, by presenting the expansion of free movement rights as an inevitable outcome of the EU constitutional order based on directly enforceable individual rights, scholars have played a significant role in legitimizing the jurisprudence of the Court in the face of initial resistance from the member states. Second, legal scholars have been an important source for the Court of Justice in developing its case law in this area. The Advocates General in their opinions have drawn on an expanding field of scholarship presenting the expansion of free movement rights as an inherent feature of the EU as a constitutional legal order. Spurred by the objective of turning the EU into more than an internal market, the opinions of the Advocates General have mostly been followed by the Court. Legal scholars have thus served not only as a legitimizing force, but also as a source of inspiration for the perceived constitutionalization of free movement rights in the EU.

This paper reflects on the ethical possibilities and limitations of cosmopolitanism as practice, with particular reference to the contemporary European project. It begins with an exploration of the relationship between what I term a ‘market’ and a ‘legal’ cosmopolitics in the European context. Inspired by Foucault's recently published work on liberal government, the paper argues that these cosmopolitics and the subjectivities that they seek to produce variously overlap, reinforce one another, and conflict in practices of contemporary post-national government: in short, they co-exist in an inherently ambiguous relationship. Animating this argument, the paper considers the politics of European citizenship; it highlights what is at stake, ethically and politically, in the recognition of an ambiguous cosmopolitics. It focuses in particular on the European Union (EU)'s 2004 Directive on the free movement of EU citizens and its relevance in the context of the high-profile deportations of Roma from France in summer 2010. The paper makes the case that the recognition and ongoing identification of an ambiguous cosmopolitics – and, essentially, an ambiguous European identity or ‘us’ – offers the prospect for ongoing resistance by and with those who find themselves designated as the ‘other’ of the European project in particular or of a cosmopolitics in general.

Although, in principle, states decide completely autonomously which persons are given their nationality, they can limit their autonomy by concluding treaties with each other. Thereby they accept certain international obligations. This article contains critical reflections on the nationality law of the Netherlands in international perspective. The authors provide an overview of the treaties that are relevant in the field of nationality law and that have been ratified by the Netherlands. They proceed by describing the nationality law of the Netherlands. The various grounds for the acquisition – ex lege, by declaration of option and by naturalisation – and loss of Netherlands nationality are discussed. Special attention is paid to the relation of the new provisions of the Nationality Act with the international obligations deriving from the treaties that have been ratified by the Netherlands. The authors conclude that, although some modifications to the Nationality Act that were realised in 2003 were aimed specifically at bringing Netherlands nationality law better in compliance with international obligations, there are still several points which are problematic in perspective of international law.