“Civis europeus, civis solidaris sum”

The ECJ judgment in European Commission v. Malta of 29 April 2025, which declared the Maltese Citizenship by Investment (CBI) program as unlaw, was much anticipated and it has not deceived the expectations as to its groundbreaking nature. Several commentators criticized this judgment as a ruling on a subject not falling into the competence of the ECJ. In reality, however, Member States, when granting national citizenship (and thereby Union citizenship) are subject to restrictions. In this judgment, the ECJ specified some important elements of these restrictions, thereby not relying, as proposed by the European Commission, on the genuine link concept (tainted by a problematic reasoning of the ICJ in the Nottebohm case of 1955) but on an expansive interpretation of the solidarity principle and of the obligation of sincere cooperation according to Art. 4(3) TEU. In prohibiting commodification of European citizenship, the ECJ underscores the ever-growing importance of EU values as enshrined in Art. 2 TEU and thereby of a non-economic core of European integration which has to be upheld to guarantee the further success of this integration process.

Information Science and Libraries · Science and Science Education · Social and Economic Solidarity