Trust, Rights, and Inclusion in the European Union: A Case Study of the European Arrest Warrant and the Fundamental Status of EU Citizenship

This article focuses on the two core mechanisms of the European Union - the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) and EU citizenship, dissecting the gap between the idealized assumptions based on mutual trust and equality and the reality behind them. Research has found that due to the regression of the rule of law in some member states, the EAW system faces problems such as impaired judicial independence and an imbalance in the protection of fundamental rights. The Court of Justice of the European Union has shifted to the principle of conditional trust. However, in practice, EU citizenship shows selective inclusiveness. Factors such as economic status and race lead to uneven entitlement. The experience of Romanian caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic is a case in point. The article advocates for establishing a trust review mechanism at the EU level, strengthening rights impact assessment, and promoting social policy coordination and other reforms to build a rights-based EU integration model and balance the efficiency of judicial cooperation and social inclusiveness.