Pre-Accession Changes to Residence-based Naturalisation Requirements in Ten New EU Member States

Abstract

This study investigates how access to residence-based naturalisation has changed in ten Central and Eastern European EU member states before their accession. It focuses on the legislative amendments made during the time of EU pre-accession conditionality, specifically between the entry into force of the Europe Agreement and the date of accession, when the supervision of the EU Commission over legal and political developments in those states was strongest. The changes are analysed and evaluated as to their liberal nature, which shows that while the EU pre-accession documents promote the principle of inclusiveness, the legislative amendments in the field of naturalisation that were in fact introduced during the pre-accession time result in higher exclusion.