Abstract

By elaborating on Patricia Mindus's analysis of a sociological notion of citizenship, this article puts forward some reflections on some recent evolutions of the concept of European social citizenship. Free movement of non-economically active EU citizens is increasingly contested in Europe and European social citizenship is under strain. In the recent "Dano" case, the Court of Justice of the European Union, through a restrictive interpretation of existing legislation, ruled out so-called "benefit tourism". At the same time, several EU Member States have introduced schemes granting residency rights or even citizenship to foreign nationals who make a significant investment in their economies. This article examines how both trends affect the notion of European social citizenship, and create unexpected intersections between legal and sociological citizenships. At the same time, they introduce new contrasts between the statuses of integration and marginalization. In its final part, the paper proposes a reconciliation of the latter contrasts through a «functional» reading of the European social citizenship.