Know your rights as an EU citizen

Are you moving within the European Union? Are you looking for work in another EU country, or are you setting up shop? Is your employer turning you into an expat? Do you want to spend retirement in another EU member state? Are there family reasons for relocating? Do you want to bring your non-EU family members into the European Union?

There are different reasons for relocating, but you should know your rights as an EU citizen. The European Commission now offers you the means to sort out the basics, before you meet public officials or turn to outside experts for advice.

At the European Commission’s DG Justice, vice-president Viviane Reding published a number of new documents concerning EU citizenship this week. (As a consequence, the informational quality of the DG Justice web pages is starting to improve, although many of them still resemble archives more than communication in real time.)

One of the positive actions was a new brochure for EU citizens, published as a high and a low resolution version in 22 languages. The freedom to move and to reside in the European Union is relevant for mobile citizens of the European Union, who plan to move to another EU country or already live outside their country of origin. It also concerns their non-EU family members:

Freedom to move and live in Europe - A Guide to your rights as an EU citizen (40 pages)

The thirteen chapter headings give you an idea of what you can expect to find basic guidance on:

Chapter 1 What is EU citizenship?
Chapter 2 Who can benefit?
Chapter 3 Where can you exercise this right?
Chapter 4 Preparing to move
Schengen rules
Chapter 5 The first three months
Reporting your presence
Chapter 6 After three months
Chapter 7 Administrative formalities
EU citizens
Non-EU family members
Sanctions
Chapter 8 Keeping the right to reside
Family members
Chapter 9 Right of permanent residence
Administrative requirements
Chapter 10 Equal treatment
Chapter 11 Restrictions
Chapter 12 Transitional arrangements for workers
Chapter 13 How to protect your rights

Besides the Treaty provisions on EU citizenship, the so called Citizenship Directive 2004/38 on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States is important for you and 11 million other mobile union citizens.




Ralf Grahn



P.S. Perhaps you should stay on top of what is happening in the European Union. Nowadays online communication offers you unprecedented ease of access to mainstream media and social media in Europe. Multilingual Bloggingportal.eu aggregates the posts from 686 blogs related to the European Union and the Council of Europe. These Euroblogs keep you up to date and they give you the opportunity to hone your language skills.

EU: Application of Community Law

Yesterday the European Parliament fired a broadside against the Commission’s handling of its responsibilities and its failures to remedy the problems the EP had remarked upon earlier.

The application of Community law is a cornerstone of the European Union. As “guardian of the Treaties”, the Commission has a duty to monitor the correct implementation of Community legislation, which is crucial for EU citizens and businesses engaged in cross-border activities.


Yesterday’s resolution is an example that seemingly dull reports can be both “hot stuff” and important for citizens and businesses.

***

European Parliament

On Friday, the European Parliament voted on a resolution based on a report by the Committee on Legal Affairs (rapporteur Monica Frassoni) with regard to the application of Community Law. The resolution was adopted by 297 votes, against 13, with 7 abstentions.

At this stage, you can find the adopted resolution in the compilation of texts adopted Friday 24 April 2009 (from page 311).


The exact references are:

P6_TA-PROV(2009)0335

25th annual report from the Commission on monitoring the application of Community law (2007)

European Parliament resolution of 24 April 2009 on the 25th annual report from the Commission on monitoring the application of Community law (2007) (2008/2337(INI))

***

Parliamentary scrutiny

The main document under scrutiny was the 25th annual report from the Commission on monitoring the application of Community law (2007) (COM(2008)0777).

The accompanying Commission staff working documents (SEC(2008)2854 and SEC(2008)2855), as well as the Commission Communication of 5 September 2007 entitled “A Europe of results – applying Community law” (COM(2007)0502), and the Commission Communication of 20 March 2002 on relations with the complainant in respect of infringements of Community law (COM(2002)0141), formed the basis for the EP’s own initiative report.

The resolution is critical of the Commission’s activities as the “guardian of the Treaties”.

The European Parliament regrets that, unlike in the past, the Commission has not responded in any way to the issues raised by Parliament in its previous resolutions, in particular its resolution of 21 February 2008; notes the lack of significant improvement with regard to the three fundamental issues of transparency, resources and the length of procedures.


The rest of the resolution lists specific criticisms of the Commission’s handling of one of its core tasks.

***

Citizenship Directive

I would like to pick out one detail, of concrete interest to EU citizens and their families, the resolution text concerning the so called Citizenship Directive 2004/38/EC (point 15), where the criticism is aimed more at the member states than at the Commission:


Notes that the Commission has declared that a fundamental directive such as Directive 2004/38/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States has for all practical purposes not been properly transposed in any Member State; notes that the Commission has received more than 1 800 individual complaints in relation to that directive, registering 115 of them as complaints and opening five cases of infringement on the grounds of failure to apply the directive properly, recognises that the Commission has worked with Parliament to useful effect and in a spirit of openness where Directive 2004/38/EC is concerned; endorses the Commission’s proposed approach, whereby the directive is to be kept under continuous and exhaustive review, support, in the form of guidelines to be published in the first half of 2009, is to be provided to help Member States apply the directive fully and properly, and infringement proceedings are to be instituted against Member States whose legislation does not conform to the directive; expresses grave concern, however, as to the Commission’s ability to perform its role as “guardian of the Treaty” and the opportunity afforded to Parliament to check the complaint registration policy implemented by the various Commission departments;

***


The resolution is instructive reading for everyone interested in the rights of EU citizens and businesses, and together with the Commission documents it offers a number of avenues for reasearch.

Even if an own initiative report is not legally binding, it would be surprising if the Commission does not spring into action after the broadside delivered by the European Parliament.


Ralf Grahn

Freedom to move and reside ─ UK style

Head of Legal in ‘Geert Wilders: and another thing …’ has commented:

http://headoflegal.blogspot.com/2009/02/geert-wilders-and-another-thing.html

So have many others on the UK Home Office’s refusal to let Dutch MP Geert Wilders into the country.

But a few more posts may be needed in order to get the member states and the Commission into active mode.

We are speaking about free movement of people, one of the cornerstones of the internal market, indeed the European Union.

We are speaking about the so called Citizenship Directive 2004/38/EC.

And we are speaking of the freedom of expression and information enshrined by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the Charter the United Kingdom has not opted out of.

What does the Home Office do?

It declares a supposedly peaceful man ‘persona non grata’ as a risk for public security.

***

The right to move and reside freely is subject only to a few exceptions, and as exemptions they must be interpreted narrowly. Public policy, public security and public health cannot be defined unilaterally by governments to cover every facet of human life they happen to dislike. Otherwise there would be no rule of law, only arbitrariness. Sometimes one wonders at the ability of governments to undo themselves.

***

European competition

Without vigilant media and bloggers European governments would harm themselves far more often and far more seriously than presently.

But knowingly or unknowingly they disregard the rule of law all too often.

Perhaps a measure of the open method of coordination is called for(?) Benchmarking, best (worst) practice and the like.

Let me suggest that the UK Home Office on the freedom to move and reside and French President Nicolas Sarkozy on the virtues of the internal market constitute the benchmarks for incredible government action within an EU context for the rest of the year.

Let us compare later gaffes with these to see what we come up with during the rest of 2009. We live in interesting times.


Ralf Grahn