How EU citizenship impacts on national laws of the EFTA States
Director of CENTENOL Christian Franklin was invited to speak at a conference last week held by the Swedish Network for European Legal Studies (SNELS) in memory of Professor Ulf Bernitz.
Main content
The SNELS conference covered a wide range of themes reflecting Professor Bernitz’s seminal work in EU law over a career spanning more than 6 decades, including Nordic and EEA cooperation. Professor Franklin’s presentation concerned free movement rights in the Nordic states and how certain gaps that have arisen due to the development of EU citizenship rights might be plugged in an EEA setting. As recognised by the Advocate General in the recent Nordic Info-case, certain holes might be filled by dynamic interpretations of the Citizenship Directive. The recent development by the EFTA Court of a general EEA principle of free movement nevertheless seems to have been overlooked by the CJEU so far, and has the potential to completely bridge the gap left by EU citizenship in this field.
For more on his recent research findings in the field, see the report on EU Citizenship in EEA law linked below (Norwegian only), due to be published in 2024 as part of a Norwegian Public Enquiry into the functioning of the EEA Agreement.
