PURPOSE: to present EU citizenship report
2010 on dismantling the obstacles to EU citizens’ rights.
BACKGROUND: as the Court of Justice of
the European Union has stated on several occasions, EU citizenship is
destined to be the fundamental status of Member States' nationals,
enabling those who find themselves in the same situation to enjoy within the
scope of the Treaty the same treatment in law irrespective of their
nationality. The Court has, in particular, ruled that citizens are entitled
to reside in another Member State purely as citizens of the Union, thus
recognising EU citizenship as a source of the right of free movement.
The entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty
strengthened the notion of EU citizenship and its accompanying rights in
several ways. The right of EU citizens in third countries to enjoy protection
by the consular and diplomatic authorities of all Member States is enshrined
as a clear individual right in the TFEU and the Lisbon Treaty complements
citizenship rights by introducing a new right, the Citizens’ Initiative,
which enables one million citizens to invite the Commission to bring forward
legislative proposals.
The rights inherent in EU citizenship are
further enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, which is
legally binding. In addition, EU citizenship rights are firmly anchored in primary
EU law and substantially developed in secondary law. Those who are
taking advantage of the European project by extending aspects of their life
beyond national borders, through travel, study, work, marriage, retirement,
buying or inheriting property, voting, or just shopping online from companies
established in other Member States should fully enjoy their rights under the
Treaties.
However, a gap still remains between
the applicable legal rules and the reality confronting citizens in their
daily lives, particularly in cross-border situations. The large number of
complaints and enquiries the Commission receives every year, recent
Eurobarometer surveys, and discussions with stakeholders, provide ample
evidence of the many obstacles standing in the way of citizens’ enjoyment of
their rights. The European Parliament’s report on ‘Problems
and prospects concerning European citizenship’ detailed persistent
obstacles to the cross-border enjoyment of rights and called on the
Commission to list these obstacles and to make concrete proposals for
addressing them.
The Commission seeks now to reinforce
EU citizenship, by revitalising the link between the citizens and the EU and
by giving real effect to their rights. This report shows how EU
citizenship brings rights and benefits to citizens. It describes main
obstacles that citizens still encounter in their daily lives when they
exercise their EU rights across national borders and outlines the measures
envisaged to empower them to enjoy their rights.
The report is issued in parallel with the
Communication "Towards
a Single Market Act: For a social market economy”, which focuses
on the elimination of obstacles by Europeans when exercising their rights
conferred to them by the Single market acquis, i.e. when they are acting as
economic operators within the Single market, for instance as entrepreneurs,
consumers or workers.
CONTENT: the report aims to tap into EU
citizens’ ideas, concerns and expectations, whilst bringing them closer
together in the process. It is intended to open a debate and exchange on how
EU citizenship can fulfil its potential in terms of enhancing Europeans' life
chances by delivering concrete benefits that will have a visible impact.
In many of the areas, the lack of EU
legislation is not the main reason why citizens are facing obstacles in the
exercise of their rights. In some instances, the existing rules need to
be expanded or updated or even radically overhauled to keep pace with
evolving socio-economic or technological realities.
The majority of actions identified to
dismantle obstacles fall into three main categories:
- actions effectively enforcing EU
rights;
- those that make their enjoyment easier
in practice, and
- measures raising awareness about them.
The EU needs to deliver at all these
levels to make sure that citizens' rights are a tangible reality. This report
identifies 25 short- and medium-term initiatives for tackling the obstacles
to citizens’ enjoyment of their rights. The Commission will:
- make it easier for international
couples (either married or registered partners) to know which courts
have jurisdiction and which law applies to their property rights (e.g.
a jointly owned house) by proposing a legislative instrument in 2011.
- facilitate the free circulation of
civil status documents (e.g. birth certificates) by proposing
legislative instruments in 2013;
- enable both citizens and legal
practitioners to easily find multilingual information on justice via
the European e-Justice web portal;
- further improve the protection of
persons suspected and accused in criminal proceedings, including
safeguarding suspects’ access to a lawyer and communication with the
outside world while in detention, by proposing two legislative
instruments in 2011;
- improve the protection of victims of
crime by proposing a package of measures, including a legislative
instrument, in 2011;
- simplify the formalities and
conditions for the registration of cars previously registered in
another Member State by proposing a legislative instrument in 2011;
- propose to facilitate access to
cross-border healthcare and is also putting in place pilot actions to
equip Europeans with secure online access to their medical health data
and to achieve widespread deployment of telemedicine services by 2020;
- increase the effectiveness of the
right of EU citizens to be assisted in third countries, including in
times of crisis, by the diplomatic and consular authorities of all
Member States, by proposing legislative measures in 2011 and by better
informing citizens via a dedicated website and targeted communication
measures;
- modernise the current rules for the
protection of consumers buying package travel, especially over the
internet, and facilitate the purchase of package travel from other
Member States by making a legislative proposal in 2011;
- seek to complete the legislative
framework allowing to ensure a set of common rights for passengers
travelling by any transport mode across the EU and ensure adequate
enforcement of these rights, including the rights of air passengers
(e.g. in case of long delays and cancellations);
- propose additional ways to ensure that
passengers with reduced mobility can more easily access all means of
transport and relevant infrastructure, and will give, from 2010
onwards, an annual award to the most accessible European cities, and
promote better access to services such as travel insurance and will
develop the use of EU wide standards on accessibility to the built
environment, by proposing, in 2010, an EU Disability Strategy
2010-2020;
- propose ways to increase consumer
confidence in tourism products, by organising awareness-raising
campaigns for European tourists and by monitoring consumer satisfaction
with various tourism services;
- set out in an understandable way the
rights of users of online services by publishing a Code of EU Online
Rights by 2012;
- facilitate fast and inexpensive
out-of-court resolution of consumer problems in the EU by proposing a
legislative instrument on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
mechanisms in 2011, by exploring proposals for an EU-wide online
dispute resolution system for eCommerce transactions by 2012 and by
promoting wider use of mediation by 2013;
- facilitate free movement of EU
citizens and their third-country family members by enforcing EU rules
strictly, including on non-discrimination, by promoting good practices
and increased knowledge of EU rules on the ground and by stepping up
the dissemination of information to EU citizens about their free
movement rights;
- improve the provision of information
to citizens and is developing a new system of electronic exchange of
data to reduce delays and difficulties in the exchange of social
security information;
- ask Member States to ensure that in
future, publication of the results of the European Parliament elections
takes place at the same time in all Member States;
- ask Member States to ensure that
voting rights of EU citizens in their Member State of residence are
fully enforced, that EU citizens can be members of or found political
parties in the Member State of residence and that Member States duly
inform EU citizens of their electoral rights;
- propose the simplification of the
procedure for EU citizens when standing as candidates in their Member
State of residence, and will improve the current mechanism for
preventing double voting in European Parliament elections;
- launch a discussion to identify
political options to prevent EU citizens from losing their political
rights as a consequence of exercising their right to free movement;
- develope the Your Europe web portal
into a one-stop-shop information point on the rights of citizens and
businesses in the EU, easy to use and accessible via the web
(http://ec.europa.eu/youreurope) and via a free phone number (Europe
Direct Contact Centre);
- streamlining its information networks
in the Member States so that citizens easily find the right contact
point at national, regional and local level;
- strengthen citizens' awareness of
their EU citizenship status, their rights and their meaning in their
daily lives by proposing the designation of 2013 as the European Year
of Citizens and by organising targeted events on EU citizenship and
citizen related EU policies during this Year;
- make it simpler for EU citizens and
stakeholders to use the financial support the Commission provides for
the development of EU citizenship, by exploiting synergies among the
available EU funding instruments and rationalisation;
- explore ways to further strengthen
information on European affairs, characterised by independent,
professional and high-quality reporting; in this context, the
Commission will also explore options for a more sustainable financing
of Euronews.
Follow-up:
the Commission considers this to be the beginning of a process for further
identification of obstacles that citizens still face and solutions for them.
The report will launch a debate with other EU institutions, notably the
European Parliament and the Council, the European Economic and Social
Committee and the Committee of the Regions, and with civil society. This
process should allow the Commission to present in 2013, a European year to be
dedicated to citizens, an assessment of its output and the initial impact of
the report's actions.
The Commission will then be in a position
to announce an ambitious and comprehensive action plan toward completing the
removal of persistent obstacles standing in the way of citizens’ enjoyment of
their rights.