Saturday, March 29, 2025
A growing number of European countries are proposing or expanding laws that could revoke the citizenship of dual nationals convicted of serious crimes — a move that critics say risks creating a divided society and fueling xenophobia.
Recent proposals in Sweden, Finland, Germany, and the Netherlands reflect a broader political trend. As right-wing and far-right parties gain influence, citizenship is increasingly being framed not as a right, but as a privilege that can be taken away.
Experts trace this shift to the early 2000s when the UK under Tony Blair’s leadership redefined citizenship as something to be “earned”. This philosophy made it easier to deny or revoke citizenship.
Now, some countries are going a step further. Laws and proposals being floated today suggest that dual nationals convicted of serious crimes — including treason, terrorism, or hate crimes — could lose their passports.
Christian Joppke, a sociology professor at the University of Bern, calls this a significant departure from previous norms. “If you do wrong, you should be able to lose citizenship — that idea has moved from terrorism to other crimes,” he noted.
Sweden recently announced plans to amend its constitution to enable the revocation of citizenship for crimes like espionage and treason. Following this, politicians in Iceland began advocating for similar changes.
In the Netherlands, the government is examining whether citizenship could be stripped for crimes with “an antisemitic aspect.”
In Germany, the issue entered public debate after center-right leader Friedrich Merz suggested dual nationals who commit crimes should lose their German citizenship. His remarks drew backlash, with critics saying such a law would make some Germans feel “forever on probation.”
Political commentator Gilda Sahebi argued that such proposals reinforce a dangerous idea: that one mistake could cost someone their national identity, regardless of how long they or their family have lived in the country.
She likened it to the concept of “remigration” — a far-right idea calling for the mass expulsion of immigrants, even those who are legal citizens.
Analysts suggest this shift reflects a deeper political strategy. With rising economic instability, mainstream parties are under pressure to match the far-right’s tough stance on security and national identity.
“Citizenship is one of the few remaining levers governments can pull to appear strong on crime,” said Joppke. “It plays directly into the radical right’s narrative.”
For years, European governments have already linked terrorism convictions with citizenship revocation, usually targeting dual nationals to avoid breaching international laws that prohibit statelessness.
However, this distinction creates legal inequality, says Tanya Mehra from the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism in The Hague.
“It punishes people twice — prison and citizenship loss — and opens the door to unequal treatment based on dual nationality,” she explained.
Mehra’s research uncovered several cases where dual nationals were stripped of citizenship, only to be left stranded when their second country refused to accept them. These individuals lost their legal status and became “invisible” within the state.
“They vanish into illegality,” she warned. “This isn’t just a human rights concern — it also undermines law enforcement.”
Denmark expanded its citizenship revocation powers in 2021 to include gang-related crimes. But experts say there’s little evidence this deterred criminal activity.
“What it has done is reinforce harmful stereotypes linking immigration and crime,” said Somdeep Sen, associate professor at Roskilde University.
These laws, he added, strengthen a narrative that equates ancestry with criminality — a view unsupported by data. “There’s no clear link between immigration levels and crime rates in Europe.”
Sen concluded that policies like these deepen the alienation already felt by many immigrant communities.
“Anti-immigrant rhetoric had already made people feel unwanted. Now, with laws that can sever their link to the country, that feeling is being institutionalized.”
