Resumen de Problems of a Concept of European Citizenship

Ulrich K. Preuß

• The article explores the possible content of the newly established institution of ‘Citizenship of the Union” as stipulated in Articles 8–8d of the EU Treaty. Within the broad scope of varying historical meanings which the concept of citizenship has undergone in the last two thousand years its main relevance must be found in its affiliation with the modern constitutional nation‐state and its basic political feature, namely its anti‐primordialism and its representative character. Although the European Community does not satisfy the conditions of democratic representation which are essential for the constitutional nation‐state, the idea of citizenship can acquire a new meaning within the framework of the EU in that it is disconnected both from nationality and from national identity and opens the space for actions of which the significance is no longer defined by the territorial boundaries of the nation‐state.