Sul principio di proporzionalità e la perdita della cittadinanza europea

The article focuses on the issue of the loss of European citizenship in the light of the case law: comparing Rottman and Tjebbes judgments, some critical remarks are outlined. The recent case builds on and extends the scope of a line of existing cases that has started to redefine the relationship between the EU citizenship and the Member States’ nationality. The deep analysis of the opinion of Advocate General and of the reasoning of the Grand Chamber is explanatory in offering the Court’s vision of what is the core of the Union citizenship, the relationship between the rights of free movement and residence, and what they offer in their totality to the individual citizen. The article also examines the requirement introduced by the Court of Justice: the rules on the loss of nationality must have due regard to the principle of proportionality and allow for an individual examination of the consequences of that loss. Some final remarks concern the post-Brexit landscape and the possible effects of Tjebbes’s ruling on the protection of the free movement of persons.