EU citizenship at the periphery: reassessing the constitutional value of EU citizenship through the lens of derivative rights of residence and Brexit

This thesis aims to answer the question of how the process of constitutionalisation of EU citizenship creates a framework for the protection and enforceability of individual rights. How permanently have EU citizenship rights been acquired and how reliable are those rights for those individuals (third-country national family members of EU citizens, former EU citizens residing in the European Union, and EU citizens residing in a former Member State) operating on the periphery of EU citizenship protections? The periphery of EU citizenship rights protections serves as the case study for this thesis because the periphery is exactly where the ‘rubber meets the road’ of citizenship provisions. It is where Member State competence reasserts itself and can once again take precedence over the constitutional framework of the EU. EU citizenship at the periphery serves as a useful case study for the constitutionalisation of EU citizenship because those ‘periphery’ individuals show how ‘expensive’ it is for the CJEU and the EU to prioritise the rights of those individuals in the face of competing Member State pressures. The level of protection offered to those peripheral individuals, therefore, will illustrate the permanence and reliability of the constitutionalisation of EU citizenship protections.