Union citizenship was created to provide a closer bond between the European Union and the nationals of the Member States. It provides a frame for rights to move and reside throughout the EU, and to work and live in conditions of equality and non-discrimination within a host Member State. Union citizens also have the right to be accompanied by their families when they move, even if the family members are not Union citizens themselves. The very power and scope of these rights can make them controversial. The question of whether and when Union citizens should have access to benefits, whether their same-sex family arrangements should be recognised in Member States that do not allow same-sex marriage themselves, and the extent to which Member State nationality law is constrained by the fact that each Member States national is also a Union Citizen, have all been the subject of much discussed case law.

This chapter sets out to analyse to what extent the role of the individual citizen in Europe, and the rights attached to that status, inform us about the nature of the EU. What does it mean, legally speaking, for someone to be an EU citizen? This chapter distinguishes between different types of citizenship. First, we can trace the emergence of an incipient form of supranational or federal citizenship. Second, we analyse the much more significant transnational citizenship that has been formed. This form of citizenship becomes stronger where the mobile European is economically active, and weaker where the mobile European is economically inactive. The reason for this fragmentation is simple: it aims to protect the national welfare systems. Third, we will look at the legal position of those individuals who find themselves on the EU’s territory without being European citizens, such as British nationals, refugees or third-country national spouses of EU citizens.

The market logic of the internal market has historically meant that EU citizens engaged in economic activity in a host-Member State obtain a secure form of lawful residence and far-reaching rights. For economically inactive citizens there is a less secure status in terms of residence, as well as more limited and conditional rights. The traditional case law of the Court of Justice of the EU has had the effect of protecting EU migrant workers in lower-paid employment. However, in the light of recent legal developments, some have suggested that this traditional position is being undermined. This chapter assesses the extent to which the EU legal system excludes those EU migrant workers on the fringes of economic activity. It begins by assessing how the ‘working proletariat’ should be understood in the 21st Century. It then analyses the development of the law of freedom of movement for workers and EU citizenship. Concretely, it claims that the introduction of Union citizenship, rather than offering a safety net for EU migrants regardless of their legal status, in some cases actually resulted in less protection than previously for EU migrant workers. Finally, it analyses the legal and wider implications of the exclusionary system.