ICON S Conference 17 – 19 June 2016 Humboldt University Berlin

acism has been alleged, advancing a point taken from
Frantz Fanon, Etienne Balibar, Ramon Grosfoguel and
others-that one can conceive of zones in Europe that
are, in the service of legitimizing human rights for some,
haunted by perpetual violence to others.
Mathias Möschel: Gens du voyage: Roma and
public law in France
This contribution will analyze the ways in which
public French law has contributed to othering, racializing
and discriminating against travelling/nomadic
populations in a context which is known for being
the colorblind Republican reality par excellence. Two
different sets of legal situations will be analyzed: the
first concerning the legislation and case law on “internal”
French travelling communities also known as
gens du voyage. The second one will look at the ways
Roma people, mainly from Bulgaria and Romania,
have been treated both under French administrative
practices and at the EU law level. What will come out
clearly is that in spite of the legal differentiations,
there are uncanny parallels of legalized racialisation
taking place.
Emilia Roig: Street harassment in colorblind
Europe
This contribution attempts to analyze the racialization
of the emerging discourse on street harassment
from an intersectional perspective. Following
the events that took place in Cologne early this
year, where the media reported that hordes of men
of North-African appearance massively assaulted
women in public, women’s rights were instrumentalized
by right-wing and anti-Muslim groups in the
anti-immigration discourse. In light of these events,
I will discuss the processes of othering around the
introduction of laws against street harassment in
France and Germany through an intersectional lens.
The analysis will focus on the political and legal implications
for racial profiling, discrimination and the
perpetuation of hegemonic feminist rhetoric on the
one hand, and on the instrumentalization and usurpation
of feminist issues by conservative voices on the
other. The salience of certain feminist issues over
others in mainstream political debates will be at the
forefront of the analysis.
31 CIRCULATION OF PERSONS
AND OTHERNESS IN THE EU:
A PROBLEM OF IDENTITY?
In the European Union framework, the circulation of
persons is currently exacerbating the problem of otherness.
The panel will address this complex and important
topic, firstly highlighting two examples of such an
exacerbation: the recent developments in the circulation
and recognition of legal and civil status within the
EU and between EU Member States and third countries,
and the main challenges to the free movement
of persons arising from the current migration crisis. In
these realms, the problem of otherness has amplified
the question of European identity: can the building of
a common European identity play a pivotal role in this
controversial framework? Can EU citizenship help to
shape this common identity? The panel will also discuss
a possible tool to foster European identity, namely
educational policies.
Participants Arianna Vettorel
Marta Legnaioli
Matteo De Nes
Giovanni Zaccaroni
Name of Chair Antónia Maria Martin Barradas
Room DOR24 1.608
Arianna Vettorel: EU Citizenship and Personal
Civil Status: The Challenges Arising from European
Cross-Border Mobility
One of the aspects most affected by mobility of
persons across borders is the recognition, in the destination
State, of the civil status acquired in the State
of origin. This problem pertains to the movement of
adults and children between non-EU and EU countries
as well as mobility between different EU Member
States. The difficulties in recognition of civil status
within the European Union is often considered as an
obstacle to the freedom of movement granted by the
TFEU and a potential detriment to the integration process,
in evident contrast with the symbolic value of
EU citizenship. These risks have been clearly stated
by the EU Commission. To date, however, the efforts
to facilitate the movement of EU citizens between EU
Member States have led only to a minimal proposal
for an EU Regulation.
Concurring panels 62
Marta Legnaioli: European Citizenship, Aquis
and the Challenges Arising from the Current
Migration Crisis
More than 20 years ago, after the fall of the Berlin
Wall and the beginning of a new phase in EU integration,
the Treaty of Maastricht, following a long
discussion, established the “citizenship of the Union”
(Article 9(1) TEU). The limits of the Union citizenship
and the fact that it only complements and does not
replace national citizenship are well known, but nev-