Along came a spider...

The individual enters in various relations with government, as understood in its broadest sense, encompassing the state, public authorities at various levels (e.g. central state, federation, federated entities, regions, municipalities, the European Union etc.). This project seeks to uncover the legal constitutional principles underlying the rules on nationality/citizenship, political representation and voting rights, political parties and to define the legal constitutional meaning of ‘the people/the nation’.

Nationality, citizenship, European citizenship

Which individuals are considered ‘nationals’ and/or ‘citizens’ in legal terms and what are the legal consequences of inclusion or exclusion? Which rights does citizenship and/or nationality entail? What is the approach to dual citizenship? What is the legal constitutional status of foreigners and/or ‘non-citizens’? How do nationality and national citizenship relate to Union citizenship which according to the ECJ ‘is destined to be the fundamental status of nationals of the Member States’ (Case C-184/99 Grzelczyk)?

Nationality, citizenship and voting rights

Which individuals are allowed to participate in the exercise of political power, and how (elections, referendums, citizens’ initiative)? Can voting rights be denied to nationals and if so, under what conditions? Can voting rights be extended to (some) non-nationals (e.g. to Commonwealth citizens in the UK, as confirmed as compatible with EU law in Case C-145/04 Spain v UK)? Or is such extension incompatible with the constitutional notion of ‘citizen’ or ‘people’ (Germany, BVerfGE 83, 37 – Foreign Voters I case and BVerfGE 83, 60 – Foreign Voters II case)? How is this affected by voting rights for EU-citizens?

Political parties, political representation, party banning, militant democracy Do political parties enjoy constitutional status? What is their role in legal constitutional terms? Can political parties be prohibited? By whom and on what grounds? (e.g. BVerfGE 2,1 DRP; but see decision of 18 March 2003, 2 BvB 1/01, concerning the request to prohibit the NPD. See also ECtHR, Refah Partisi; Tribunal Supremo (Spain), 17 March 2003, Batasuna. Party banning is as such not provided for in Belgium, but parties may be held in breach of the prohibition to cause racial hatred (Cass., 9 November 2004, Vlaams Blok). Which constitutional legal principles underlie the system of financing of political parties and election campaigns, and/or referendums? What legal norms underlie the public sphere?

‘The people’/’the Nation’

Is there a legal constitutional concept of ‘the people’ (German ‘Staatsvolk’), or ‘nation’ (French ‘nation’), and what is its legal relevance? (e.g. as source of all public power, as ‘pouvoir constituant’, as the source of democracy (BVerfG 89, 155, Maastricht)).

Is there a constitutional legal recognition of sub-national nations, or of multiple nationalities within the nation and what are its legal consequences (Spain, article 2 of the Constitution)?

How are these national legal accounts affected by EU law? How does a national constitutional concepts of ‘nation’ or ‘people’ relate to a European legal concept of ‘people(s)’?