On Dubious Parallels: The Transnational Europeans and the Jews. A Note on Gareth Davies' Article

Abstract

(Series Information) European Papers - A Journal on Law and Integration, 2020 5(1), 279-282 | Dialogue | (Abstract) In a recent Article published in this Journal, Gareth Davies draws a parallel between European citizens as fashioned by EU law and pre-war Europe's Jews (G. Davies, How Citizenship Divides: The New Legal Class of Transnational Europeans, in European Papers, Vol. 4, 2019, No 3, www.europeanpapers.eu, p. 675 et seq.). This parallel raises two serious issues. One is the complete lack of contextualisation of such a dubious comparison. The other is the lack of careful methodological engagement with the ways in which EU law operates in actual practice. This note cautions against the use of such parallels and calls for the development of renewed categories to analyse and critically assess the European Union and its law.

Keywords

• european union citizenship
• jews
• european legal scholarship
• methodology
• social and cultural contexts
• polarisation