The concept of the Union Citizenship introduced at Maastricht for the first time in 1992 and a number of rights were specified in the treaty which can be enjoyed by the citizens.
Directive 2004/38 strengthened and displaced most of the legislation that were governing the rights of different category of people under EU law, including workers, job seekers, self employed, families, students, etc. Moreover, discrimination on the ground of nationality is prohibited on matters such as taxation, social benefits, educational benefits and dual-nationality situation. For example in Rudy Grzelczyk who was a French national studying in Belgium. He faced temporary economic difficulties in his fourth year. He applied to get student grant which was available for Belgium students, but he was refused on the ground of nationality. The ECJ stated that it was contrary to article 18 TFEU which stipulates that any discrimination on the ground of nationality shall be prohibited.
EU Citizenship
Rules which are relating to the free movement of persons have changed over the periods of time. In the beginning, the rights of free movement were given only to those who were economically active such as workers and self-employed. However, others now have the right to move freely between Member States without being economically active. It must be borne in mind that the right of free movement between Member States is limited under the conditions laid down in the Treaty (article 45 TFEU) which are public health, public policy, public security and public service. For instance, in Van Duyn the Home Office refused him, on the ground of public policy, to enter the UK to take up an employment with the ‘Church of Scientology’ because this job was considered to be socially harmful. The ECJ considered article 27(2) of the Citizens’ Rights Directive (CRD) which states the measures taken on the grounds of public policy must be ‘based exclusively on the personal conduct of the individual