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SUMMARY:(Dis)enfranchisement and the Exercise of EU Free Movement Rights -
  Aidan O'Neill QC
DTSTART:20160217T124500Z
DTEND:20160217T140000Z
UID:TALK64494@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Prof Kenneth Armstrong
DESCRIPTION:This paper considers the issue of disenfranchisement operating
  as a possible disincentive to the exercise of free movement rights.   It 
 looks at whether and how Member States’ rules of electoral law can fall 
 within the ambit of EU law and\, if so\, how they might be justified for t
 heir compatibility with EU law.  \nThe specific situation examined is the 
 disenfranchisement from national elections and constitutional referendums 
 in their Member State of origin for those who have exercised their free mo
 vement rights within the EU\; with particular focus on the situation in re
 lation to the UK’s Brexit referendum.   The paper highlights that the in
 dividuals arguably most affected by the result of this referendum are Brit
 ish citizens who have exercised their free movement rights and now live el
 sewhere in the EU (some 2.2 million people) and separately nationals of ot
 her Member states who have exercised their EU free movement rights to move
  to the UK (some 2.3 million people).  \nBut the franchise for the Brexit 
 Referendum denies the vote to  British nationals living abroad (if they ha
 ve been away for more than 15 years) and excludes all and any EU citizens 
 living in the UK from the right to vote\, unless they happen to hold Irish
 \, Cypriot or Maltese nationality.       Non-EU Commonwealth citizens resi
 dent in the UK are given the right to vote\, despite the fact that the res
 ult of the referendum has no effect on their rights or status\, since they
  have no rights which they can claim directly under EU law.  \nThe Brexit 
 referendum franchise\, then\, seems both over-inclusive (in covering Commo
 nwealth citizens who will be unaffected by it) and under-inclusive (in exc
 luding non-Commonwealth EU citizens and British nationals who are long ter
 m resident elsewhere in the EU\, whose rights and status will be directly 
 affected).   The question raised in this paper is whether the Brexit refer
 endum franchise might be said to be unlawful as a matter of EU law because
  disproportionate and/or discriminatory.
LOCATION:Faculty of Law B16
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