Back to the Future? The Evolution of European Social Citizenship through the Lens of Citations

In the aftermath of the Dano judgment, the scholarship unanimously identified a jurisprudential shift towards a more restrictive interpretation of European citizenship, leading to the refusal of social assistance. Yet, the extent to which the observed shift in the approach of the Court of Justice of the European Union (the Court) permanently redirected the trajectory of European social citizenship remains understudied. The emphasis placed on contextual causes hints at a possible return to the earlier approach if the political climate becomes more conducive to the development of European social citizenship. This article empirically revisits the Court’s citizenship jurisprudence from a novel perspective, that of citations. The research question seeks to determine if there is a fundamental shift in the reference frame of citizenship judgments and the extent to which the Court’s restrictive approach, observed in the 2010s, persists in recent judgments. All citizenship judgments delivered until October 2023 are examined by combining network and legal analysis. The findings reveal a fundamental and potentially strategic shift in the reference frame of citizenship judgments delivered from 2016 onwards compared to judgments delivered before. Crucially, despite the revival of social Europe in recent years, the Court has not returned to its pre-Dano approach.