Assessing the Impact of European Union Citizenship: The Status and Rights of Romanian Nationals in Italy

The article uses analysis of the legal status of Romanian nationals in Italy, where they constitute the largest immigrant population, to explore the question of the extent to which the formal institution of European Union citizenship has superseded national conceptions of citizenship.

It is argued that, although EU citizenship has offered an opportunity for market-oriented rights, inclusion in the labour market and rights of residence, it is national citizenship that continues to outline the boundaries of full membership to the national community and the terms for distinguishing between natives and foreigners. Since 2007, Italian legislation has also ensured that EU citizens can be deported if not registered residents. Thus despite the expansion of Union citizenship, the Italian state reaffirms its sovereignty by imposing limits on the inclusion of Romanian nationals in the labour market and involvement in national politics, and by deporting Romanians on security grounds.

The contemporary institution of citizenship in Italy should therefore be seen as a negotiation between the supranational institutional arrangement and the path dependency of national conceptions of citizenship and security-based approaches to immigration.

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