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Evropa po 20 letech od vyhlášení institutu evropského občanství
Authors: Jaroslav Vencálek
Number of views: 301
On the 1st November 1993, the Treaty on European Union,
known as the Maastricht Treaty, entered into force.
Thus, institution of European citizenship was introduced for
the first time. Every citizen with the citizenship of any member
state became a citizen of the European Union. The resulting
civil rights were later deepened by the Amsterdam Treaty.
During the past twenty years the perception of human
identity itself has changed due to globalization. It is no wonder
that at the beginning of the 21st century the importance
of citizenship in context of identity is not appreciated. This
study outlines what needs to be done to make European citizenship
provide to citizens of member states of the European
Union much more than what is apparent from their legal anchoring.
The author proceeds from the assumption that European
citizenship is closely linked with civil territorial identity.
Its strengthening broadens possibilities of participation
of people in public life and thus contributes to the development
of civil society. The stronger one perceives genius loci
(genius regionis) and the human connection with the space,
the greater is his ability and willingness to be open to the
world.