DELI Lunchtime Seminar: Luke Dimitrios Spieker

Dr Luke Dimitrios Spieker (Humboldt University) will give a DELI lunchtime seminar entitled "Trust, Solidarity, Democracy: Towards a republican Union citizenship after Commission v Malta?".

The CJEU’s decision in Commission v Malta marks the summit of a long-standing, highly controversial debate in European legal scholarship. Considering the Maltese practice of “golden passports” incompatible with EU law, the Court expands the reach of EU law deep into an area of national competences. The Grand Chamber establishes constraints for the conferral of the Member States’ nationalities and develops a shared concept of nationality based on a “special relationship of solidarity and good faith”. To justify this bold step, it mobilises constitutional principles: trust, solidarity, and democracy. Ultimately, it seems that the Court embraced a republican understanding of citizenship – one that builds on commitment and participation. 

In this seminar, we will explore these deep structures and unravel the future impact of this judgment on the status of Union citizenship.