Green European citizenship? Rights, duties, virtues, practices and the European Green Deal

Abstract

Published in December 2019 by the European Commission, the European Green Deal (EGD) sets out the aim to transform the EU into a sustainable society in which economic growth is decoupled from resource use, so that there are no greenhouse gas net emissions by 2050. As the ‘driving force of the transition’ citizens are expected a play a key role in achieving this shift, by adopting sustainable consumption habits and changing their life styles and behaviour as well as actively participating in policymaking [EC, 2019, 22]. This expectation raises questions about European citizenship: Can European citizenship be ‘greened’? Conversely, might the EGD strengthen European citizenship? Drawing together theoretical insights into ‘green citizenship’ with research on European citizenship this paper considers what a ‘green European citizenship’ (GEC) might look like. It examines the rights, duties, virtues and practices of a GEC, and underlines in particular the important role of ‘critical acts’ of European citizens. It concludes that while the initiatives of the EGD might provoke citizenship engagement, participation and identification, these initiatives might also further expose the fault lines between citizens in Europe. This possibility makes the critical acts undertaken by citizens all the more important.