FROM 1993 TO 2013 AND AFTER

years have passed since the Treaty of Maastricht established the concept of of the European (EU citizenship), as the key pillars of European Union polity. That anniversary offers us the opportunity to analyze the evolution of this fundamental status (ECJ, Case I-184/99, Grzelczyk) in the light of the recent developments bring by both the European Union law (especially Treaty of Lisbon) and European Court of Justice (ECJ). This paper stress that the EU citizenship is comprised a set of rights from free movement to diplomatic protection, including political rights that confer to the nationals of the Members States the legal framework to engage in democratic life of European Union. In this regard, under Treaty of Lisbon, the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) procedure has been settled as a tool for involving the Europeans into European law-making process. Moreover, the paper explores, also, another direction of development of EU citizenship based on the connection with fundamental rights. The main outcome of the paper is the conclusion that the EU citizenship is an intricate tripartite legal relationship; linking European Union to both Europeans and Members States, as well as it is an important factor of European integration process.