Belgium has significantly expanded its ability to revoke citizenship from individuals convicted of serious crimes, joining a growing number of European nations adopting hardline approaches to national identity and public safety.
The legislation, approved by the federal Chamber of Representatives, allows authorities to strip Belgian nationality from those convicted of homicide, sexual assault, organized crime, or terrorism—provided they acquired citizenship within the past 15 years and receive prison sentences of at least five years.
For terrorism convictions, dual nationals now face automatic citizenship revocation, marking a sharp departure from the case-by-case review process that previously governed such decisions. Federal Justice Minister Annelies Verlinden characterized the measure as "a powerful message" that serious crimes undermining society's foundations can result in loss of nationality.
The expansion represents Belgium's latest move in a broader European trend toward stricter citizenship policies. Similar laws exist in the Netherlands, where terrorism convictions can trigger revocation, and the United Kingdom, which has stripped citizenship from dozens of individuals deemed security threats, including those who joined foreign terrorist organizations.
France has debated citizenship revocation for years, with President Emmanuel Macron proposing expanded powers following terrorist attacks, though constitutional constraints have limited implementation. Austria and Denmark have also tightened their citizenship laws in recent years, reflecting similar political pressures.
Critics of such legislation argue that it creates two tiers of citizenship—one secure, one conditional—and disproportionately affects immigrant communities and their descendants. Human rights organizations have warned that citizenship revocation can leave individuals stateless if their second nationality is uncertain or contested, violating international law.
The European Court of Human Rights has placed limits on such measures, ruling that states cannot revoke citizenship if doing so would render someone stateless. However, for dual nationals, the legal pathway remains open, and Belgium's new law operates within these parameters by targeting only those with another nationality.
Belgian officials have emphasized that the legislation includes safeguards, including judicial review and the 15-year acquisition window designed to balance security concerns with protection for long-term citizens. Yet the automatic nature of terrorism-related revocations has raised questions about whether such mechanisms provide sufficient individualized assessment.
The timing of the law's passage reflects Belgium's ongoing struggle with terrorism and organized crime. The country suffered devastating attacks in 2016 when Islamic State operatives bombed Brussels Airport and a metro station, killing 32 people. Since then, Belgian authorities have grappled with the challenge of preventing radicalization while integrating immigrant communities.
For Belgium, a country with a complex federal structure and deep linguistic and cultural divisions, questions of national identity carry particular weight. The expansion of citizenship revocation powers represents not merely a security measure but a statement about the terms of belonging in Belgian society.
Political support for the measure cut across traditional party lines, with both center-right and center-left parties backing the legislation amid public pressure for tougher responses to crime. However, Green and progressive parties expressed reservations, warning that such laws risk stigmatizing immigrant-origin communities without meaningfully improving public safety.
As European nations face ongoing migration pressures and security challenges, the debate over citizenship revocation is likely to intensify. Belgium's expanded law provides a test case for whether such measures effectively deter crime or simply create new forms of legal and social exclusion.
