The European Commission is asking EU citizens to let them know about problems they have encountered when travelling, studying, working or living in another EU country.

The Commission said that it is there to uphold and strengthen those rights as an EU citizen. That’s why it wants to know more about your experiences when exercising them.

The EC would also welcome any suggestions as to how to remove any obstacles that may have been encountered when working or studying in another EU country, for example.

You can tell them your thoughts through its consultation on citizenship rights (until 9 September 2012). Your experiences and ideas will feed into proposals in its next citizenship report, due in 2013.

The previous report identified 25 measures [758 KB] the EU should take to make your rights more effective in practice. These actions are well underway. They include slashing red tape for people registering a car in another EU country and resolving cross-border inheritance tax problems.

The European Commission said that “as a national of an EU country you are also an EU citizen. In addition to national privileges you hold a further set of rights, agreed to by all 27 member countries and guaranteed by the EU’s treaties.”

This means you have the right to:

travel and live anywhere in the EU

equal treatment with all other EU citizens (without discrimination because of your nationality)

vote and stand as a candidate in municipal and European Parliament elections wherever you live in the EU

receive help from another EU country’s embassy or consulate outside the EU (if your own country is not represented) in the same way as a citizen of that country

petition the European Parliament when you encounter problems, and make a complaint to the European Ombudsman

join with other EU citizens to call for new EU legislation through a citizens’ initiative.

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