Citizenship by descent?

[komencanto]

I live in a melting-pot country and my parents and grandparents were all born here, but I have great-grandparents from Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and the UK. I have great respect for European culture in general, but don't know much about the culture differences in these specific countries (except UK, which probably most similar to the culture here), so I would be interested in the possibility of acquiring EU citizenship from any of them. Might this be possible?

I've read that people who were Lithuanian citizens before 1940 can pass down citizenship, but Lithuania only became independent in 1919, so if they left before then would they have been real Lithuanian citizens? Many of these countries seem relatively 'new'.

Could there ever be an EU law that would allow me a generic 'EU citizenship'?

[RobinLondon]

Whereas I don't have a crystal ball, it's unlikely that a concept of an "EU citizen" as you describe it will occur in the short to mid-term. Firstly, there is sizeable opposition within the EU to the creation of a super-state along the lines of the US. What you describe is very similar to the concept of US citizenship but is out of context with the EU model. Also, each member nation has a vested interest in encouraging loyalty to their own nation and society, and the creation of a supranational citizen would seem to work against that.

Whereas the term "EU citizen" is mentioned quite frequently these days, it's probably best to think of the current situation as British/German/Estonian citizens exercising their treaty rights in some other country. As I said, that's the model now, but who knows. Maybe in 100 years it will be different.

As to getting any of your specific ancestries' citizenships, I can definitely say that the UK is out. I'm inclined to to say the same for the others, but I'm definitely no expert. You'll have to do your own research (maybe you already have) or someone else can chime in. I do know that Slovenia has expedited naturalisation procedures, but not an immediate passport, for great-grandchildren of migrant Slovenes, but that's unfortunately the extent of my knowledge. Sorry.

[JAJ]

You'll have to do your own research (maybe you already have) or someone else can chime in.

This is not comprehensive or complete, but is a good start:
http://www.coe.int/t/e/legal_affairs/le ... #TopOfPage