Now that I have become ‘German’ and can vote where I pay taxes, am I happy? Not really. I still regard this very much as a ‘second-best’ solution to my problem. What happens if I decide to retire in France? Will I then have to add French citizenship to my ‘collection’? In an ideal world, what can European citizens do if they do not feel any particular affinity to one particular nation? What is the political equivalent to being agnostic or a non-believer? If I feel ‘European’ why can’t I just classify myself as such? Having to adopt, in my case, German and UK citizenship, rather than just becoming a European citizen, is rather like making an agnostic decide one and for all which God she believes in, when in fact her identity relies on the inability to answer the question.
Notions of ‘national citizenship’ do not fit easily with ‘European identity’. As a polyglot, European citizen, I do not appreciate having to be tagged or bound to cultures which I either obtained by pure chance, because I happened to be born there, or by choice, because of personal relationships, but not necessarily because of an intrinsic desire to become a citizen of that country. As a taxpayer, though, I do feel it is important to be able to have a democratic say in choosing which politicians are able to spend half my wages!
Do I think political franchise should depend on national citizenship? Do you think black people should be allowed to sit anywhere on the bus?