European Citizens Thirty Years On: Economic Contributors, Political Members, Right-holders?

2022 marks thirty years since Union citizenship was introduced. Celebrated as the world’s first “transnational legal status”, yet a complement to nationality, the status entails rights that have been expanded, modified, re-interpreted, on the backdrop of the economic integration process. Criticisms against Union citizenship often focus its exclusionary nature, often in relation to economic factors. The symposium assesses these three decades of Union citizenship against the backdrop of the revival of interest in economic contributions and the role these ought to play in attribution of social roles and political power. Normatively ambiguous, contributions might justify political inclusion of immigrants or restrict voice for non-contributors. Do economic contributions matter more? What does it mean for citizenship, and Union citizenship in particular?

The conference is organised by research project Contributivism, funded by the Swedish Research Council and the Wenner-Gren Foundation, and organised together with Uppsala Forum for Democracy, Peace and Justice.

You are very welcome to join us 22-23 November 2022 in Humantiska Teatern, Uppsala University!