ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author focuses on the link between citizenship and nationality on the one hand and between citizenship and immigration on the other. She describes first the rights that have most defined citizenship at the national level in Europe prior to the formulation of European citizenship. The author argues that immigration policies at the national level, after the Maastricht Treaty and with the establishment of new citizenship rights, have become a filter used to define EU citizens. She explores an examination of citizenship in the United Kingdom (UK) and Italy, emphasising the redefinition in these two countries of the concept of membership and citizenship. The conservative approach towards citizenship in the UK has always been peculiar. The British model falls into the liberal-individualistic tradition in which citizenship is reduced to a mere legal status. The Irish case constitutes a relevant example.
