Citizenship & Rights in the European Union
The European Union is a political and economic union of 27 countries in Europe that opened their borders for all citizens of the member states -- approximately 501 million people. As of April 2011, the countries that are EU members are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus (Greek sector), Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom. A citizen of any of these countries is automatically an EU citizen.
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Traveling and Residency
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EU citizens can move freely, without a visa, within the borders of the EU countries. They can also reside in any country they choose and live or retire there. To travel in the EU, citizens don't need a passport or an ID card, except when traveling to or from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Ireland, Romania and United Kingdom, which are not part of the passport-free Schengen area. The Schengen area is a union of 25 states in Europe, including the non-EU members Switzerland, Norway and Iceland, with no border control between them, but requiring a Schengen visa when entering the area, supplied by the country through which you enter. If an individual wants to obtain citizenship of the country in which he chooses to reside, other than his own, he must consult immigration laws, which vary from country to country.
Elections and Protection
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EU citizens have the right to vote for, or stand as, a candidate in the European Parliament or the municipal elections in the country in which they reside under the same conditions as nationals, but an annulment of this law may be obtained when it refers to specific problems of a certain member state. Whenever a citizen of a European country is in the territory of a third country where her country is not represented, she has the right to be protected by the diplomatic or consular authorities of any member state as if she were one of its nationals.
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Petitions
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Any EU citizen has the right to petition the European Parliament. He may apply to the Ombudsman or can write to the European Commission, European Council or any other European authority or agency. He also has the right to receive an answer to his petition in the same language. To involve EU citizens to participate in the EU policy shaping, the Citizens' Initiative program allows citizens to approach the Commission with proposals for legal acts in areas where the EU has the power to implement them. The regulations for the Citizens' Initiative were released on Feb. 16, 2011 and the program is scheduled to launch on April 1, 2012.
Pros & Cons
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EU citizenship has both advantages and disadvantages. It is a way to bring peoples of Europe together, to increase communication among them, and to allow each country to benefit from other countries' specialists and trades for their own economic and social growth. However, a person's identity is defined in relation to her own country, so people will not fully embrace their EU citizenship and freedom within the EU borders; barriers among EU countries will still exist at the personal level.
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References
- European Union Immigration: EU Immigration
- European Commission: EU Citizenship - Your Rights in the EU
- European Commission: Travel: Documents You Need - EU Nationals
- Official Journal of the European Union: Consolidated Version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union; 2008
- European Commission: The European Citizens' Initiative
- Civitas: EU Facts: European Union Citizenship; Oct. 8, 2010
- Photo Credit David De Lossy/Photodisc/Getty Images
