ElectronicjournalofcomparatiVeLaw,vol.8.3(october2004),chttp://www.ejcl.org/> Spanish option right for the children of former Spanish nationals born in Spain, Fidel Castro himself could immediately opt for European citizenship while continuing to reside in Cuba. 46 4. Autonomy in matters of nationality The special" Declaration(No 2)on nationality of a Member State quoted earlier, which was attached to the Maastricht Treaty, gives the impression that each Member State is fully autonomous in regulating nationality. The conclusion that Member States continue to have full autonomy cannot be maintained, however, in all circumstances We may first of all observe that the relation between the first and second sentence of the Declaration on nationality is not entirely clear. The first sentence grants the Member State in question the right to determine who is a national of that Member State. The nationality of a Member State is to be determined exclusively on the basis of the national law of that Member State and not by Community law. The second sentence, however, offers the Member States the possibility of issuing an additional declaration for information'regarding the persons who possess the nationality of a Member State. Does this second sentence entail that the Member States can exclude groups of their nationals from the rights under the EC Treaty? Can they grant these rights to groups of individuals who do not possess the nationality of these Member States under their nationality law? Or are they only permitted to offe authoritative explanation of their nationality laws as to who exactly is a national of the Member State involved in the case of reasonable doubt obviously, the other Member States need to know whether they should also regard British Overseas Citizens as British citizens for Community purposes. 47 Is it possible for the Netherlands, for example, to declare that all Netherlands citizens born outside the territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands are not Netherlands citizens for Community purposes? Upon consultation of the Netherlands law of citizenship, there can be no reasonable doubt whether or not children of Netherlands citizens born abroad are Dutch. They acquire Netherlands citizenship at birth, jure sanguinis; a declaration to the contrary, therefore, addressed to the Presidency of the European Community, would be rather surprising. Would such a declaration perhaps violate the aim of Article 17 of the Treaty? The answer to this question depends, inter alia, on the interpretation of the second sentence of the add itional declaration. Does it allow total freedom to make any conceivable declaration regard ing the determination of the nationals of a Member State? And what exactly is the purport of the words for information'and when necessary'in that second sentence? However, I have already mentioned that two Member States, Germany and the United Kingdom, issued special declarations on the issue of who should be regarded as their nationals for Community purposes. Both Member States did not simply explain'their nationality legislation, but created a special, functional nationality for Community purposes This observation is of relevance to the interpretation of the words for information'in the idel Castros father, who was born in Galicia(Spain), went to Cuba at the end of the 19th century. See NoticiasdeCubaavailablethroughhttp://www.cubanetorg(lastvisitedon25October2003).accordingto Spanish estimations, some 80,000 persons residing in Cuba have this option Compare Jessurun d'Oliveira(1999),p. 440, who stresses that the United Kingdom and Germany had reasons for issuing a declaration, because they have non-standard nationality legislationElectronic Journal of Comparative Law, vol. 8.3 (October 2004), <http://www.ejcl.org/> 10 Spanish option right for the children of former Spanish nationals born in Spain, Fidel Castro himself could immediately opt for European citizenship while continuing to reside in Cuba.46 4. Autonomy in matters of nationality The special ‘Declaration (No 2) on nationality of a Member State’ quoted earlier, which was attached to the Maastricht Treaty, gives the impression that each Member State is fully autonomous in regulating nationality. The conclusion that Member States continue to have full autonomy cannot be maintained, however, in all circumstances. We may first of all observe that the relation between the first and second sentence of the Declaration on nationality is not entirely clear. The first sentence grants the Member State in question the right to determine who is a national of that Member State. The nationality of a Member State is to be determined exclusively on the basis of the national law of that Member State and not by Community law. The second sentence, however, offers the Member States the possibility of issuing an additional declaration ‘for information’ regarding the persons who possess the nationality of a Member State. Does this second sentence entail that the Member States can exclude groups of their nationals from the rights under the EC Treaty? Can they grant these rights to groups of individuals who do not possess the nationality of these Member States under their nationality law? Or are they only permitted to offer an authoritative explanation of their nationality laws as to who exactly is a national of the Member State involved in the case of reasonable doubt? Obviously, the other Member States need to know whether they should also regard British Overseas Citizens as British citizens for Community purposes.47 Is it possible for the Netherlands, for example, to declare that all Netherlands citizens born outside the territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands are not Netherlands citizens for Community purposes? Upon consultation of the Netherlands law of citizenship, there can be no reasonable doubt whether or not children of Netherlands citizens born abroad are Dutch. They acquire Netherlands citizenship at birth, jure sanguinis; a declaration to the contrary, therefore, addressed to the Presidency of the European Community, would be rather surprising. Would such a declaration perhaps violate the aim of Article 17 of the Treaty? The answer to this question depends, inter alia, on the interpretation of the second sentence of the additional declaration. Does it allow total freedom to make any conceivable declaration regarding the determination of the nationals of a Member State? And what exactly is the purport of the words ‘for information’ and ‘when necessary’ in that second sentence? However, I have already mentioned that two Member States, Germany and the United Kingdom, issued special declarations on the issue of who should be regarded as their nationals for Community purposes. Both Member States did not simply ‘explain’ their nationality legislation, but created a special, functional nationality for Community purposes. This observation is of relevance to the interpretation of the words ‘for information’ in the 46 Fidel Castro’s father, who was born in Galicia (Spain), went to Cuba at the end of the 19th century. See ‘Noticias de Cuba’, available through http://www.cubanet.org (last visited on 25 October 2003). According to Spanish estimations, some 80,000 persons residing in Cuba have this option. 47 Compare Jessurun d’Oliveira (1999), p. 440, who stresses that the United Kingdom and Germany had reasons for issuing a declaration, because they have non-standard nationality legislation