Conference Paper

The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union states that the European Union (E.U). “places the individual at the heart of its activities, by establishing the citizenship of the Union and by creating an area of freedom, security and justice…To this end, it is necessary to strengthen the protection of fundamental rights…”The Charter, together with the Treaty of Lisbon is today a part of the acquis communautaire. On the other hand, the economic, financial and political crisis threatens not only the Euro but also the very existence of the E.U. The crisis of the common currency has brought itself to the center of the E.U. attention, while the individual, the citizen of the E.U. remains more or less on the periphery. This paper is about citizenship, its importance and its future. The Euro has to be saved, definitely, but E.U. citizenship as well. There are several building blocks of citizenship, on national, regional and international level. They are: legal in their character, either as a part of international or constitutional law or – European, they are also psychological, i.e. linked to personal or national identity, social, cultural, philosophical… To be able to protect the citizens, E.U. citizenship has to be protected and, expanded in the future. It should become a real citizenship within a new, federal context. The question is: how can the E.U. or another form of integration become a model for the world, a model attractive globally? What answer is to be given to the American challenge or the challenge of other major powers?An interdisciplinary methodology is used here, first of all in the domain of de lege lata et de lege ferrenda.