As an EU citizen, once you start to have activities in other EU Member States, such as by moving your residence, travelling, or working, you activate new rights that you can use – rights that help ensure that you can fully enjoy the freedom of movement within the EU.
Not everyone is aware however of how their EU rights from the Freedom of Movement can help them. They are not the easiest to explain either, as each EU Member State’s approach and interpretation varies when ensuring these rights are upheld. Various obstacles can also stand in the way of individuals looking to use these rights.
We invite both professionals working on enabling EU citizens to fully enjoy their rights, as well as EU citizens themselves, to explore this topic.
With the resources on this page, we hope to help you get informed of the EU Freedom of Movement rights that are relevant and helpful for you – as well as potential obstacles. Below have both official resources from the European Commission and an analysis on how individuals are experiencing these rights across different states.
Developed by the Promise project:
Policy Brief – Analysis of the Commission’s Guidance in Addressing The Obstacles to Free Movement
This Policy Brief, developed by ECAS and FEANTSA, provides a summary of the main takeaways from an analysis of the European Commission’s Guidance3 on the right of free movement of EU citizens and their families, issued in December 2023. The Policy Brief outlines the areas successfully clarified by the Guidance, the areas that remain problematic with regard to freedom of movement in the EU legal framework, and how these challenges can be addressed.
Official resources from the European Commission:
“Free Movement and residence” – European Commission
Guide to Residence Rights – European Commission
About the Promise project
In December 2020, the European Commission published the EU Citizenship Report 2020, committing to adopting a new Communication on Directive 2004/38/EC in 2022. The objective of Promise is to ensure proper interpretation and implementation of this Communication in EU Member States. In that respect, we will provide local authorities with relevant knowledge and tools to reduce administrative obstacles for mobile EU citizens in their host countries.
The Promise project focused on EU countries with a high number of EU citizens: Italy, Spain, France, Ireland, Sweden, and Germany. The project is funded by the European Programme for Integration and Migration (EPIM) and is implemented by ECAS in partnership with Alliance4Europe and Democratic Society.
This project is co-funded by the EU.
