Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-03-29-Speech-4-088-000"
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"en.20120329.5.4-088-000"2
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"Mr President, I would like to start by saluting the efforts of the European Commission to reinforce EU citizenship by giving real substance to citizens’ rights. This was done by introducing the report on citizenship in October 2010. This is indeed what we need in the EU: to take steps forward by engaging Member States, institutions and citizens to fully respect EU law and lift obstacles to the free movement of our citizens.
So far, the EU has been less successful and has not given enough priority to ensuring the legal framework is applied in practice. As a result, the free movement of persons has developed less than the other three freedoms. Over the last years, an increasing number of petitions have been registered with respect to problems encountered by EU citizens who exercise their right to free movement, accounting for approximately 25% of the total number of petitions received.
Also, some progress has been achieved following the adoption of the Parliament report on application of the Free Movement Directive in 2008, of which I was the rapporteur, and also the publication of the Commission’s guidelines for implementation of the Free Movement Directive.
Numerous petitions bear witness to the fact that there are still many problems related to the implementation of the directive: unjustified administrative burdens, particularly for third-country national family members, including entry requirements and lengthy procedural delays; a lack of recognition of free movement rights for certain registered partners, including those in a same-sex relationship; public policy exceptions to serve economic or security aims which have ignored the principle of proportionality, especially in abuses of expulsion orders; discrimination towards certain nationals and ethnic communities. These are just a few examples of such breaches of European citizens’ fundamental rights.
There is a large gap between the expectation of citizens, who increasingly take free movement for granted and expect the spirit of the Treaty and the legislation to be respected, and the practice of national authorities who insist more on the conditions and exceptions.
To achieve real free movement as well as EU citizenship, Member States need to be pushed to do it, to change their laws and administrative practices. The only institution that can do it is the one that is charged with the task of being the Guardian of the Treaties, the European Commission.
An important number of petitions highlighted the problems encountered by citizens on the mutual recognition and free circulation of civil status documents and their effects. Procedures for the recognition of documents can be extremely time consuming and involve many costs, especially with regard to translation and authentication. There are even Member States which refuse to issue certificates of civil status to persons who intend to engage in a partnership or marriage in another Member State.
Since free movement rights are guaranteed by a mix of European laws and national implementing measures, citizens often find themselves caught up in red tape, being asked to produce an excessive number of documents in original form or authenticated copies and translations. The problem with the recognition of professional qualifications brings delays in job applications that can take months, even years, preventing even the attempt to access the labour market. This hampers labour mobility, which has a positive impact on economic growth, so on and so forth. We have been discussing in the Committee on Petitions all these obstacles which citizens encounter in exercising their rights as European citizens.
Let me conclude by saying that this citizenship report is based on the petitions received from the citizens who address us with their concerns and worries, expecting the European Parliament to protect their rights guaranteed by the Treaty. The signal we are going to give today by voting on this report is an important one. The rights achieved by our citizens should be respected by all, no matter the political family we belong to or the country we come from."@en1
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