Citizenship is a multiform concept that still needs to be cleared. This is necessary because various authors try to understand this concept so that they can define the future model of European citizenship. If there exist different forms of citizenship, one of the tasks of investigation is to determine reasons for these differences. This article redraws the history of this current thoughts in a comparative perspective to be able to deal with its meaning in the context of the European construction. This attitude obliges us to mark out the different contextual models white showing consideration for the real historical and political situations.