La protezione diplomatica e consolare dei cittadini dell'UE

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the special nature of the worldwide protection of EU citizens through the diplomatic and consular agents of EU Member States. The establishment of a "protection of the EU citizen" has led to the acknowledgement of a pure right (not linked to an internal EU migration of the concerned citizen) and to an added value for EU citizens themselves when travelling or living in countries where their State of nationality has no local representative. Several issues are highlighted in this study: for instance, the differences of this new system of protection with respect to the classical “diplomatic” and “consular protection” of the international law, the attempts to diminish the importance of the fundamental right to protection of the EU citizen, the differences with the “EU civil protection” and with intergovernmental instruments such as the EU crisis management.