European Citizenship: The IGC and Beyond

This paper examines two aspects of the 'citizenship dimension' of the IGC agenda, in the light of a broader argument about the role of citizenship of the Union in feeding the construction and development of a 'European polity'. It is argued that citizenship was always likely to become a salient issue of debate in the 1990s EU, but that the concept which exists so far in Treaty form is extremely weak in nature. Against this background, the paper develops the arguments in favour of amendments to the EU Treaties to incorporate a 'non-discrimination' clause and enhanced individual access to EU institutional documents, concluding that such changes represent a fundamental aspect of polity-formation within the EU, so far as concerns the vital role of citizens.