LUXEMBOURG (CN) — The European Union’s top court found on Tuesday that traffic violations aren’t enough to revoke offers of citizenship.
J.Y., as the woman is referred to in court documents, applied for Austrian citizenship in 2008. The Central European country has a so-called single-citizenship policy, requiring anyone holding another nationality to relinquish it before being granted Austrian citizenship.
In 2014, she was told by Austrian authorities that, so long as she gave up her Estonian nationality within two years, she would be granted Austrian citizenship. Both countries are EU member states. And, in 2015, she notified immigration officials that she had done so, leaving her stateless. But two years later she was told that, because she had a series of driving-related convictions, she would not be granted citizenship.
Between 2007 and 2013, J.Y. had been convicted of driving under the influence and failing to display a vehicle inspection sticker, as well as eight less serious traffic offenses. Austrian authorities claimed that these convictions showed that she would be unable to “conduct herself properly in the future.”
Eventually Austria's Supreme Administrative Court of Austria, the Verwaltungsgerichtshof, referred the matter to the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice.
As its 11-judge panel concluded Monday, J.Y.’s convictions were insufficient to revoke an offer of nationality. “Traffic offences, punishable by mere administrative fines, cannot be regarded as capable of demonstrating that the person responsible for those offences is a threat to public policy and public security,” the court said in a statement.
Under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, one of the foundational treaties of the EU, citizens are guaranteed a number of rights. The court found that J.Y. didn’t give up her nationality voluntarily, rather she was required to do so by the Austrian authorities. That left Austria with the responsibility to ensure she continues to receive all of the benefits that come with being an EU citizen.
The ruling echos a 2021 recommendation in the case from an advocate general. Polish judge Maciej Szpunar wrote in his nonbinding opinion for the court that J.Y.’s offenses hadn’t even merited revoking her driving license, so to revoke her citizenship was disproportionate.
Follow @mollyquell
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
