Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - DynamInt

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin | Faculty of Law | DynamInt | Events | Conference: Windy Roads 2026

Announcement: Windy Roads

The ambivalent relationship of Union Citizenship and Member State nationality

28 - 30 of January 2025

 

 

The DFG Research Training Group DynamInt cordially invites you to the “Windy Roads” conference at Humboldt University Berlin. From 28 to 30 January 2026, we will explore the ambivalent relationship of Union citizenship and Member State nationality with participants from academia and practice.

The conference will open on the evening of 28 January with keynote speeches by Advocate General Tamara Ćapeta and Professor Daniel Thym. The closing address will be delivered by President Koen Lenaerts on the afternoon of 30 January. In between, we look forward to stimulating discussions with over 30 renowned experts, who will delve into the ambivalent, at times even contradictory developments of Union citizenship and Member State nationality. The conference is organised by our Postdoc Dr. Luke Dimitrios Spieker.

Introduced with the Maastricht Treaty some 30 years ago, Union citizenship is deeply intertwined with the Member States’ nationalities. Following the letters of the EU Treaties, it is no freestanding, but a derived status: Union citizens are those who possess the nationality of a Member State (Art. 9 TEU). While the Court of Justice ascertained already in 2001 that Unions citizenship is destined to become the “fundamental status” of the nationals of the Member States, the past decades have demonstrated that Union citizenship follows no linear development towards this destiny. Instead, the relationship of Union citizenship and Member State nationality is ambivalent and subject to many, sometimes contradictory trajectories. Some have strengthened the Status of Union citizenship (e.g. Ruiz Zambrano or Commission/Malta), others have reinforced the relevance of Member State nationalities (e.g. Dano or Préfet du Gers). With other words: these concepts travel on windy roads.

 

Panels and Participants

 

Part I: Weakened Union citizenship, strengthened nationality?

Panel 1: The long-term impact of Dano and its progenies

  • Anastasia Iliopoulou - Penot, Université Panthéon-Assas, Paris 2
  • Gareth Davies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
  • Charlotte O'Brien, York Law School
  • Dion Kramer, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Panel 2: The long-term impact of Brexit 

  • Hannes Krämer, European Commission - Legal Service
  • Susanne K. Schmidt, Universität Bremen 
  • Oliver Garner, British Institute for International and Comparative Law
  • Maarten Vink, European University Institute 

 

Part II: Strengthened Union citizenship, weakened nationality?

Panel 3: Shrinking autonomy? EU impact on the acquisition and loss of Member State nationality

  • Martijn van den Brink, Leiden University
  • Ségolène Barbou des Places, Université Panthéon - Sorbonne
  • Ferdinand Weber, Universität Göttingen 
  • Sara Iglésias Sanchez, Universidad Complutense Madrid

Panel 4: Declining relevance? The impact of fundamental freedoms on Member State nationality

  • Eleanor Spaventa, Bocconi University Milan
  • Giuseppe Martinico, Scuola Superiore di Sant’Anna, Pisa
  • Alina Tryfonidou, Cyprus University
  • Catherine Barnard, Cambridge University

Panel 5: Opening participation? EU impact on national political rights            

  • Monica Claes, Maastricht University; Nora Vissers, Maastricht University 
  • Mattias Wendel, Universität Leipzig
  • Daniel Sarmiento, Universidad Complutense Madrid 
  • Jonathan Tomkin, European Commission - Legal Service 

 

Part III: Outlook

Panel 6: Derived, decoupled, displaced? What future for Union citizenship and nation-ality in the EU?

  • Francesca Strumia, University of London
  • Jules Lepoutre, Université Côte d'Azure
  • Daniel Thym, Universität Konstanz  
  • Dimitry Kochenov, Central European University 

Panel 7: What role for Union citizenship and nationality for the emergence of a European society?

  • Ana Bobic, Hertie School
  • Rainer Bauböck, EUI
  • Paivi Neuvonen, Durham University 
  • Armin von Bogdandy, MPIL Heidelberg

 

Programme

The programme can be found here. 

 

Registration

To participate in person, please register by 15 December 2025 via this link or by emailing us at
windyroads.conference.rewi@hu-berlin.de. Registration will take place on a first-come, first-served basis.

 

Contact and organization: 

 

 

We kindly thank the Körber Stiftung for their financial support!