Citizenship as Restitution. EUropean passports as redress for past injustice and opportunity for future migration (CITREST)

Code: PID2023-152117NA-I00
Funding entity: Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (Proyectos de Generación del Conocimiento)
Coordinator: Reinhard Schweitzer
Partners: Universidad Abat Abat Oliba CEU; CIDOB; University of Sussex; UDC; European University Institute
Duration: 2024-2027
Amount: 75.000 euros
ESOMI participant: Magazzini, T. (UDC)

It investigates the use that EU member states are increasingly making of citizenship as a form of restitution. Millions of people around the world are thereby given access to dual citizenship and a European passport, which can serve as redress for past injustice, insurance against present uncertainty, and opportunity for future migration. The CITREST project (2024-2027) specifically compares the cases of Austria and Spain, where recent legislation provides the descendants of those who fled persecution under previous dictatorships with privileged citizenship access. Based on comparative legal and policy analysis, an online survey, and in-depth interviews with potential beneficiaries as well as implementing and intermediary actors in Austria, Spain, Argentina, and the UK, the project will contribute to a much better understanding of, and more informed public and political debates about, the role of ancestral citizenship in and for contemporary Europe.