“EU citizens-Your Rights, Your Future”

From the 9^th May 2012 to 9^th September 2012, the European Commission is having a public consultation on the 2013 EU Citizenship Report “EU citizens-Your Rights, Your Future”

The European Commission welcomes responses from all EU citizens and organisations concerned with developing EU citizenship.The European Commission wants to know about any obstacles you might be facing in your daily life as a European citizen living, studying, working, shopping or simply travelling within the European Union.

They would also like to hear your ideas about how to remove these obstacles and further develop EU citizenship.

As a national of an EU country you are also a citizen’s of the European Union. This gives you a number of rights agreed by all 27 EU countries:

• To travel and live anywhere in the EU.
• Not to be discriminated against on the basis of your nationality.
• To vote and stand as a candidate in municipal and European parliament elections wherever you live in the European Union.
• If your own country is not represented, to be assisted by another EU country’s embassy or consulate outside the EU, under the same conditions as a citizen of that country.
• To petition the European Parliament and to bring a case to the European Ombudsman.
• To initiate together with other EU citizens, a citizens initiative to call for new EU legislation.

In 2010, the European Commission published an EU Citizenship Report which is available here. The European Commission will present a new EU citizenship Report in 2013 with further measures responding to issues by EU citizens.

Please complete the European Commission online questionnaire if you would like to submit your contribution which can be found here.

For more information on the 2013 EU Citizenship Report and for information for businesses and other organisations who wish to submit their contribution please see here .