European Union – Citizenship. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, deciding that art 6 of the Treaty on the European Union and art 49 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union should be interpreted as meaning that the accession of a state to the European Union did not preclude another member state imposing a criminal penalty on persons who had committed, before the accession, the offence of facilitation of illegal immigration for nationals of the first state.