Several European countries are increasingly considering or implementing policies to revoke citizenship from individuals convicted of serious crimes, raising complex legal and social questions. These developments, reported by The Guardian, highlight an emerging trend where citizenship is being framed not simply as a right but as a conditional privilege tied to behaviour and legal compliance.
In Sweden, the rightwing government, supported by far-right parties, announced plans to amend the constitution to allow the revocation of Swedish citizenship for dual nationals convicted of offences such as espionage or treason. This proposal quickly drew international attention and resonated with similar discussions in other countries. For example, Icelandic politicians have begun advocating for comparable measures for serious crimes, and the Dutch government explored revoking citizenship in cases involving crimes with antisemitic elements.
Germany’s recent federal election brought the issue into sharper focus when Friedrich Merz, leader of the centre-right CDU/CSU, suggested revoking German citizenship for dual nationals who commit criminal offences. This proposal sparked controversy, with the political commentator Gilda Sahebi critiquing it as creating a class of "Germans on probation," permanently susceptible to losing their citizenship due to a single mistake or crime. Sahebi further argued that Merz’s idea implicitly normalises discriminatory and far-right rhetoric, famously associated with calls for the mass deportation of migrants, including those holding citizenship.
The genesis of this shift can be traced back to earlier reforms in the UK under Tony Blair’s government in the early 2000s. Christian Joppke, a sociology professor at the University of Bern, explained to The Guardian that the UK was among the first to suggest citizenship should be “earned” and revocable if an individual commits wrongdoing. However, new proposals across countries like Sweden, Finland and Germany extend this logic further by suggesting citizenship be revoked for any serious crime by dual nationals.
Such policies predominantly target dual nationals because international law forbids making individuals stateless. Tanya Mehra, a senior research fellow at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism in The Hague, detailed how this creates a disparity: dual nationals risk losing citizenship and rights in one country while retaining another nationality, effectively creating two classes of citizens. Mehra cautioned that while these policies may appear strong on crime, they potentially violate human rights, and have in some cases left individuals stateless or undocumented, rendering them vulnerable to exploitation and harder for authorities to track.
Denmark’s experience with these laws provides further insights. After expanding citizenship revocation laws in 2021 from terrorism and treason to include gang-related crime, academic Somdeep Sen from Roskilde University reported no clear evidence that such measures deter crime. Instead, he noted these policies contribute to xenophobic discourse by linking immigration status with criminality, reinforcing harmful stereotypes despite research showing no significant correlation between immigration and crime rates across Europe.
Sen highlighted the social consequences of these policies, particularly the sense of "unwanted-ness" among immigrant communities in Denmark. The revocation laws underscore the fragility of these individuals’ sense of belonging and signal how tenuous their inclusion in society can be.
Christian Joppke also linked the rise of these revocation proposals to the broader political climate shaped by growing far-right influence across Europe. With traditional socio-economic promises of democracy no longer feasible, politicians have focused on delivering physical security as a means to appeal to voters. Citizenship revocation for crime becomes one tool in this agenda, reflecting mainstream parties’ attempts to avoid losing ground to radical right factions.
Overall, the growing association between citizenship and criminal behaviour across several European countries introduces new legal, social and ethical challenges. While designed to penalise serious offences, these policies risk entrenching divisions within societies by creating differentiated citizenship statuses and raising concerns about fairness, human rights and integration.
Source: Noah Wire Services