The Judge and Citizenship of the Union

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the role of the judge in safeguarding the rights of the Union citizen in an area of freedom, security and justice. It is first the Courts of the Union who have provided the necessary impetus to give legal effectiveness to a concept that could have remained a mere political instrument. It is then the Courts of the Union who have ensured the protection of the rights of the citizen of the Union against challenges by Member States and institutions and bodies of the Union, while maintaining the balance with the prerogatives of the Member States and of the institutions and bodies subject to its judicial review. It is now also the national judge that is directly tasked with ensuring the implementation of the rights of the Union citizen in everyday life and who has truly become an ordinary judge of EU law.