"European Citizenship in Three Eurocities"

Favell, Adrian (2005) "European Citizenship in Three Eurocities". In: UNSPECIFIED, Austin, Texas. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

Discussions on European citizenship, have tended to be driven by abstract normative concerns, and at best ground their arguments at the institutional level of law and policy. But if European citizenship means anything, it should also be reflected sociologically in the choices, experiences and behavior of those we might most think of as prototypical European citizens: free moving educated and professional workers who have exercised their European citizenship and free movement rights to live and work in another member state. I will present findings from an empirical study of the mobility and integration of these Eurostars, as I call them, resident European nationals living and working as foreigners in three cities: London, Amsterdam and Brussels. Notably, their political participation as European citizens in the cities is much less significant than their economic participation as consumers and cultural entrepreneurs. I present distinctive findings about political participation from the three cities, and offer some reflections on what this means for debates about the ‘democratic deficit’ and the future of the EU.

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