Case C-181/23 Commission v Malta (Investor Citizenship) Discussion Panel

Determining who may or may not be a citizen of a state, and hence membership of the political community, is central to that state’s identity and lies at the core of national sovereignty. It is not surprising therefore that, on the introduction of EU Citizenship, Member States of the European Union adopted a declaration stating that ‘the question of whether an individual possess the nationality of a Member State will be settled solely by reference to the national law of the Member State concerned’, underlining the fact that nationality law remained a national competence. Nonetheless, national competences must be exercised in compliance with EU law, and as the Court of Justice of the EU found in Rottmann that when exercising their competence to withdraw nationality and hence EU citizenship, Member States were obliged to have regard to EU law, a principle which has been developed in subsequent cases and is now settled law.

The question of whether EU law can affect the exercise of Member State competence in the attribution or acquisition of citizenship has recently been tested before the CJEU in the case of Commission v Malta (Investor Citizenship) [external link], which is due to give judgment on 29 April 2025. At stake is ability of Member States to operate investor citizenship schemes and under what conditions. Also at stake is the wider issue of what role EU law may play in determining the boundaries of national political community and on what basis.

Edinburgh Law School is delighted to host an online discussion panel of experts in the field to provide an initial reaction to the judgment and discuss its possible implications. Please register below to receive a link and instructions on how to join the discussion.

 

Discussants

Dimitry Spieker (Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg)

Niamh Níc Shuibhne (University of Edinburgh)

Sara Poli (University of Pisa)

Martijn van den Brink (University of Leiden)

Stephen Coutts (University of Edinburgh)

 

Event Link

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