Croatia is the first State to adopt a provision concerning European citizenship in its Constitution - none of the current Member States’ Constitutions include such an article. Of additional concern are the possible impacts that the constitutional amendment on EU citizenship might have on the exercise and enforcement of EU citizens’ rights in Croatia. Namely, there is a likelihood that the move to adopt the EU citizenship provision will be interpreted by both the citizenry and the judiciary as a suggestion, or worse, a requirement to rely on this constitutional norm instead of relevant EU law provisions when seeking to protect EU citizens’ rights in Croatia.
As a candidate country for European Union accession, Croatia has recently introduced a number of legal reforms in order to fulfill the membership criteria. One of these concerns the amendments made to the Croatian Constitution in June 2010.
