91998E0191

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0191/98 by Cristiana Muscardini (NI) to the Commission (5 February 1998)

Subject: Dual citizenship for Italians in Belgium

The Strasbourg Convention of 6 May 1963 regulates instances of dual citizenship and, in practice, provides for the reacquisition of citizenship even when it has been given up voluntarily, since it establishes that the various positions set out in international agreements remain unaffected.

Thus the Protocol to the Strasbourg Convention has, for example, made the agreements between Italy and France and Italy and the Netherlands, which allow dual citizenship, operational.

In order to remove the obstacles to freedom of movement and ensure the free movement of citizens, can the Commission introduce the appropriate measures to extend the Strasbourg Protocol to cover the European countries in which there are large numbers of Italians?

Can it also, in view of the sizeable Italian community in Belgium, extend the Strasbourg Protocol, as a matter of urgency, to relations between Belgium and Italy, so as to allow the Italians living in Belgium who want to complete the formalities for reacquisition of their original citizenship, to do so, whilst keeping the Belgian citizenship which they acquired by means of voluntary naturalization?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission (6 April 1998)

As stipulated in Article 8 of the EC Treaty, every person holding the nationality of a Member State is a citizen of the Union.

In accordance with Declaration No 2 on nationality of a Member State, annexed to the Final Act of the Treaty on European Union, wherever in the Treaty reference is made to nationals of the Member States, the question whether an individual possesses the nationality of a Member State is to be settled solely by reference to the national law of the Member State concerned.

Consequently, it is the Member State concerned which is competent to define the conditions for acquiring and giving up its nationality. The Member States are also competent to conclude bilateral or multilateral agreements on the conditions for acquiring and giving up nationality. The Commission is therefore not entitled to intervene in the way the Honourable Member would like.