I'm confused. It seems that you had to apply for EU citizenship and it took four years.

If either of your parents have citizenship from a European country, and they apply for citizenship for you before you are 18, it's routine.

My German citizenship, applied for in 1984, took a few months.

I did not say that citizenship was easy. I said that one had to live in the country for 5 years before being able to apply for citizenship. Generally, they already have your immigration papers when they granted you permanent residence.

I'm clearly missing something here. Could you give me a bit more detail?