The Proportionality Test in the Function of Transforming the European Union Citizenship From the Derivative to the Basic Status

Abstract

The proportionality test is a test that the Court of Justice of the European Union uses to affect courts of the Member States to assess on an individual level whether national regulations which, under certain circumstances, foresee the withdrawal of nationality of natural persons disproportionately impacts their or the normal development of their families or has such impact on their professional lives. By determining this test, the Court of Justice of the European Union made the matter of the withdrawal of nationality of the Member State, due to its nature and its consequences, to become the matter of the European Union law. This paper examines the intensity in the development of the proportionality test by using the structural-functional, comparative, and cause and effect analyses in considering the cases Rottman, Tjebbes and Landesregierung. The research shows that this test contributes to the expansion of the influence of the European organisation on national regulations in the field of nationality and thus to the transformation of the European Union citizenship from a derivative to a basic status.