Sustainable Migration: EU Citizenship as the Prototype of Sustainable Migration

The establishment of the EU citizenship has challenged the way in which citizenship has been understood and theorised. After offering a brief overview of different theoretical accounts on EU citizenship, this encyclopedia entry suggests that it can be understood as a key status for the purposes of sustainable migration. EU citizenship is not only a status which connects the nationals of the Member States to EU, but also it aligns and regulates free movement to ensure the sustainable development of Europe under Article 3(3) TEU. By ensuring political rights, the freedom to move and pursue one's aspiration of good life and economically conditioned social rights, EU citizenship operates as the prototype of a sustainable migration framework. Understanding EU citizenship through the lens of sustainable migration can better explain the economic conditioning of free movement rights and it can deliver more social legitimacy for the EU.