Verbatim report of proceedings

Wednesday, 15 January 2014 - Strasbourg

EU citizenship for sale (debate)

  John Attard-Montalto (S&D). - Mr President, I am going to speak in English, as Madame Reding, the Commissioner, chose that language in which to address us. I followed her with very keen interest. Why? Because she made a legal argument. If you take away all the political rhetoric, you will realise that her main items of objection are legal. She accepted the fact that citizenship is subject to national jurisdiction, but she also said that according to the Maastricht Treaty – and she is right – there has to be a direct link. In other words, the objection is not whether money is paid or not. The objection is whether there is a direct link or not. Let us crystallise the problem and not try and make a scapegoat of the smallest country in the European Union.