In my master's thesis, I explored the problem of statelessness in the EU and its Member States from an international legal point of view. Statelessness occurs when a person does not possess citizenship in any country. The fundamental international treaties regulating the status of stateless persons focus primarily on the identification and protection of stateless persons and the prevention and reduction of this undesirable phenomenon. The loss of citizenship of an EU Member State leads to the automatic loss of EU citizenship and, consequently, certain additional rights. In the Rottmann case, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEC) has for the first time examined a case related to the loss of EU citizenship and the consequent occurrence of statelessness, and explained the loss of such rights, underlining the importance of respecting EU law in the sphere of citizenship in such cases. The main issue discussed in this master's thesis relates to the regulation of procedures for determining statelessness in the EU Member States. According to the UNHCR, the appropriate mechanism to be established by the States is a special procedure for the identification of statelessness. Through the examination of the regulation of procedures in some EU Member States, in this master's thesis I confirm the hypothesis that the procedures in the EU Member States are regulated in different ways. In the main chapter, I also mention certain guidelines given by the international community in terms of improving the procedures, and I aim to determine, taking into account the opinions of various legal experts, whether the EU has the power to adopt legislation that would harmonise the procedures at the EU level. In the concluding part of my thesis, I present possible solutions envisaged by the international community regarding the prevention and avoidance of statelessness.
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