This article argues for the (re)construction of citizenship of the European Union as an autonomous status. As opposed to the current legal regime, whereby individuals with nationality of a Member State are automatically granted citizenship of the Union, under this proposal individuals would be free to choose whether or not to adopt the status of citizen of an incipient European polity. At present, the telos and essence of citizenship of the Union is contested. It may be argued that the status is partial or incomplete. This has informed competing normative perspectives. ‘Maximalist’ positions praise the judicial construction of Union citizenship as destined to be the ‘fundamental status’ for all Member State nationals. By contrast, ‘minimalist’ positions argue that the status should remain ‘additional to’ Member State nationality, and the rights created therein should remain supplementary to the status and rights derived from national citizenship. This article will argue for a new approach to the dilemma. By emancipating the condition for acquisition of EU citizenship from nationality of a Member State, and reconstructing it as an autonomous choice for individuals, it is tentatively suggested that a new constitutional settlement for Europe may be generated.

For the first time in history, the aspiration to ‘an ever closer union’ between European peoples (not states) was laid down in the Treaty of Rome of 1957. The same idea has now found expression in the preamble to the Draft Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe: ‘Convinced that, while remaining proud of their own national identities and history, the peoples of Europe are determined to transcend their ancient divisions and, united ever more closely, to forge a common destiny’. However, as is usual in politics, the precise meaning of this formula is left unclear. Can pride of national identity and history go together with the forging of a common destiny? Without trying to answer this question, this short article looks at whether (a) European history, (b) the wording of the proposed treaty itself and (c) the international context can give some clues as to where forging a common destiny between the peoples of Europe might lead in a constitutional sense. Will the Union develop into a more or less centralised entity that resembles a state or will it remain the rather loose and open conglomeration of states it presently is?