OUR RIGHTS AS A CITIZEN OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

THE PRESENTATION MADE BY STUDENTS OF BUSINESS

ACADEMY LEVICESLOVAKIA

OUR RIGHTS AS A CITIZEN OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Citizenship of the European Union was introduced by the Maastricht Treaty, which was signed in 1992, and has been in force since 1993. European citizenship is supplementary to national citizenship and affords rights such as the right to vote in European elections, the right to free movement, settlement and employment across the EU, and the right to consular protection from other EU states' embassies when a person's country of citizenship does not maintain an embassy or consulate in the country they need protection in.

OUR RIGHTS AS A CITIZEN OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

EU citizenship as a distinct concept was first introduced by the Maastricht Treaty, and was extended by the Treaty of Amsterdam. Prior to the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, the European Communities treaties provided guarantees for the free movement of economically active persons, but not, generally, for others. The 1951 Treaty of Paris establishing the European Coal and Steel Community established a right to free movement for workers in these industries and the 1957 Treaty of Rome provided for the free movement of workers and services.

OUR RIGHTS AS A CITIZEN OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

However, the Treaty provisions were interpreted by the European Court of Justice not as having a narrow economic purpose, but rather a wider social and economic purpose. In Levin, the Court found that the "freedom to take up employment was important, not just as a means towards the creation of a single market for the benefit of the Member State economies, but as a right for the worker to raise her or his standard of living". Under the ECJ caselaw, the rights of free movement of workers applies regardless of the worker's purpose in taking up employment abroad, to both part-time and full-time work, and whether or not the worker required additional financial assistance from the Member State into which he moves. Since, the ECJ has held that a recipient of service has free movement rights under the treaty and this criterion is easily fulfilled, effectively every national of an EU country within another Member State, whether economically active or not, had a right under Article 12 of the European Community Treaty to non-discrimination even prior to the Maastricht Treaty.

In Martinez Sala, the European Court of Justice held that the citizenship provisions provided substantive free movement rights in addition to those already granted by Union law.

OUR RIGHTS AS A CITIZEN OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

OUR RIGHTS AS A CITIZEN OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Political rights Voting in European elections: a right to vote and stand in

elections to the European Parliament, in any EU member state (Article 22) Voting in municipal elections: a right to vote and stand in local elections in an EU state

other than their own, under the same conditions as the nationals of that state (Article 22) Accessing European government documents: a right to access to European Parliament,

Council, and Commission documents (Article 15). Petitioning Parliament and the Ombudsman: the right to petition the

European Parliament and the right to apply to the European Ombudsman in order to bring to his attention any cases of poor administration by the EU institutions and bodies, with the exception of the legal bodies (Article 24)[15]

Linguistic rights: the right to apply to the EU institutions in one of the official languages and to receive a reply in that same language (Article 24).

Rights of free movement Right to free movement and residence: a right of free movement and residence throughout the Union and the right to work in any position (including national civil services with the exception of those posts in the public sector that involve the exercise of powers conferred by public law and the safeguard of general interests of the State or local authorities (Article 21) for which however there is no one single definition);

Freedom from discrimination on nationality: a right not to be discriminated against on grounds of nationality within the scope of application of the Treaty (Article 18);

Rights abroad Right to consular protection: a right to protection by the diplomatic or consular authorities of other Member States when in a non-EU Member State, if there are no diplomatic or consular authorities from the citizen's own state (Article 23): this is due to the fact that not all member states maintain embassies in every country in the world (16 countries have only one embassy from an EU state).

OUR RIGHTS AS A CITIZEN OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Free movement rights Article 21 Freedom to move and reside Article 21 (1) of the

Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union[14] states that Every citizen of the Union shall have the right to move and reside freely within the

territory of the Member States, subject to the limitations and conditions laid down in this Treaty and by the measures adopted to give it effect.

The European Court of Justice has remarked that, EU Citizenship is destined to be the fundamental status of nationals of the Member

States The ECJ has held that this Article confers a directly effective right upon citizens to reside

in another Member State.[17][18] Before the case of Baumbast,[18] it was widely assumed that non-economically active citizens had no rights to residence deriving directly from the EU Treaty, only from directives created under the Treaty. In Baumbast, however, the ECJ held that. Article 18 of the EC Treaty granted a generally applicable right to residency, which is limited by secondary legislation, but only where that secondary legislation is proportionate. Member States can distinguish between nationals and Union citizens but only if the provisions satisfy the test of proportionality. Migrant EU citizens have a "legitimate expectation of a limited degree of financial solidarity... having regard to their degree of integration into the host society„ Length of time is a particularly important factor when considering the degree of integration.

The ECJ's case law on citizenship has been criticised for subjecting an increasing number of national rules to the proportionality assessment.

OUR RIGHTS AS A CITIZEN OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Article 45 Freedom of movement to work Article 45 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union [14] states that

1. Freedom of movement for workers shall be secured within the Union.2. Such freedom of movement shall entail the abolition of any discrimination based on nationality between workers of the Member States as regards employment, remuneration and other conditions of work and employment.

State employment reserved exclusively for nationals varies between member states. For example, training as a barrister in Britain and Ireland is not reserved for nationals, while the corresponding French course qualifies one as a 'juge' and hence can only be taken by French citizens. However, it is broadly limited to those roles that exercise a significant degree of public authority, such as judges, police, the military, diplomats, senior civil servants or politicians. Note that not all Member States choose to restrict all of these posts to nationals.

Much of the existing secondary legislation and case law was consolidated[23] in the Citizens' Rights Directive 2004/38/EC on the right to move and reside freely within the EU.

OUR RIGHTS AS A CITIZEN OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Passports of the EU The European Union does not issue passports, but

ordinary passports issued by its 27 member states share a common design. Common features include the burgundy coloured cover, the use of the words "European Union" in the country's official language or languages on the cover, as well as common security features and biometrics.

Some EU member states also issue non-EU passports to certain people who have a nationality which does not render them citizens of the European Union (e.g., British Overseas Territories Citizens except those with a connection to Gibraltar, British Nationals (Overseas), British Overseas Citizens, British Protected Persons and British Subjects).

OUR RIGHTS AS A CITIZEN OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

National identity cards in the EU National identity cards are issued by 24

European Union member states to their citizens. EU citizens holding a national identity card can not only use it as an identity document within their home country, but also as a travel document to exercise the right of free movement in the European Economic Area (European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway) and Switzerland. Some EU member states also issue national identity cards to residents who are non-EU citizens – these cards are only valid as an identity document within the issuing country and are not valid as a travel document for the rest of the EEA and Switzerland.

At present, three European Union member states (Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom) do not issue national identity cards to their citizens. Therefore, EU citizens from these three countries can only use a passport as a travel document to enter and reside in the EEA (EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway) and Switzerland without a visa.

OUR RIGHTS AS A CITIZEN OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

OUR RIGHTS AS A CITIZEN OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

The European Citizens’ Consultations are the first pan-European participatory project to involve citizens from all 27 Member States of the European Union into the debate about the Future of Europe. Between October 2006 and May 2007, more than 1,800 citizens deliberated on the subject in 27 countries speaking 23 official languages. They were selected at random by professional recruitment agencies or universities according to a set of criteria that ensured that they reflected the diversity of the EU’s population. In European- and national-level debates the citizens were choosing and discussing three topics they considered most important to their lives, identified common ground and made recommendations to policy-makers responsible for making the decisions on Europe’s future.

The European Citizens' Consultations were organised by a group of independent, non-for-profit organisations led by the King Baudouin Foundation (Belgium) in collaboration with European Citizen Action Service (ECAS), the European Policy Centre (EPC) and the Network of European Foundations for Innovative Cooperation (NEF). They were supported by Compagnia di San Paolo, Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, Robert Bosch Stiftung and Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The European network of partners and donors included organisations from all Member States. The project was co-financed by the European Commission and linked to DG Communication’s Plan D.

OUR RIGHTS AS A CITIZEN OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

OUR RIGHTS AS A CITIZEN OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Europe for Citizens (formerly Citizens for Europe) is a European Union programme designed to help bridge the gap between citizens and the European Union. Ending in 2006, the European Commission on 6 April 2005 adopted a proposal for a new programme to run from 2007 to 2013. The programme will provide the Union with instruments to promote active European citizenship, put citizens in the centre and offers them the opportunity to fully assume their responsibility as European citizens. The Commission has determined that citizens should also be aware of their duties as citizen and become actively involved in the process of European integration, developing a sense of belonging and a European identity.

The global aim of the proposed programme is to contribute to: Giving citizens the opportunity to interact and participate in constructing an

ever closer Europe, united in and enriched through its cultural diversity; Forging a European identity, based on recognised common values, history and

culture; Enhancing mutual understanding between European citizens respecting and

celebrating cultural diversity, while contributing to intercultural dialogue. The proposal affirms that Union citizenship should be the fundamental status

of nationals of the Member States. The budget for the new program is €235 million.

OUR RIGHTS AS A CITIZEN OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

4 freedoms: The European Union's (EU) internal market (sometimes known as the

single market, formerly the common market) seeks to guarantee the free movement of goods, capital, services, and people – the EU's "four freedoms" – within the EU's 27 member states.

The internal market is intended to be conducive to increased competition, increased specialisation, larger economies of scale, allowing goods and factors of production to move to the area where they are most valued, thus improving the efficiency of the allocation of resources.

It is also intended to drive economic integration whereby the once separate economies of the member states become integrated within a single EU wide economy. Half of the trade in goods within the EU is covered by legislation harmonised by the EU.[2]

The creation of the internal market as a seamless, single market is an ongoing process, with the integration of the service industry still containing gaps.[3] It also has an increasing international element, with the market represented as one in international trade negotiations. Notably, the internal market is open to three non-EU states via the European Economic Area.

OUR RIGHTS AS A CITIZEN OF THE EUROPEAN UNION