ACT for Free Movement
This project aims to establish permanent direct advocacy towards EU institutions and provide support, resources and training to citizens themselves throughout Europe to take action, to counter the trend towards a restrictive interpretation of the Citizens’ Rights Directive.
Specific attention will be paid to countries such as Belgium, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the UK where repeated infringements to mobile EU citizens’ access to rights have been reported.
Project partners will adopt a multilevel strategy including a comprehensive report documenting the implementation of the EU Citizens’ rights directive across the 28 Member States, EU-level advocacy, strategic use of existing EU complaint mechanisms, training of citizens’ rights activists and a small grants scheme for grassroots campaigns.
Considering the fact that the last communication of the European Commission on the Citizens’ Rights Directive was issued in 2009 and taking into account the latest EU developments on the issue of free movement, project partners will aim to create a momentum for a new EC Communication to be issued to guide Member States in the application of the Directive.
Year(s): 2017-2018
Target group(s): Migrants in Europe
Website: http://www.asylumineurope.org
Methodology
ACT for Free Movement will establish permanent direct advocacy in Brussels and provide support, resources and training to citizens throughout Europe to take action to counter the trend towards a restrictive interpretation of the EU Citizenship Directive (2004/38/EC). It aims to increase the extent to which EU citizens can effectively secure access to and are aware of their rights and build public awareness and political support for mobile citizen rights.
To achieve this, a multilevel strategy will be deployed which will entail:
- Research to identify specific problems and to define good practices in free movement of EU citizens;
- EU-level advocacy through complaints to the European Commission and petitions to the European Parliament;
- Training of free movement activists during workshops in Poland, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the UK; and
- Providing support for citizen-led grass root campaigns on mobile citizens’ rights.
Apart from coordinating the project ECAS will:
· Identify the problems faced by EU mobile citizens in the EU28 in a report that will inform a new Communication of the Commission on the implementation of the Citizenship Directive (2004/38/EC) and the next DG Justice Citizenship Report.
· Identify good practices in the implementation of the EU Citizenship Directive at national level. The best practices will feed into an interactive guide (accessible both to EU mobile citizens but also EU and national decision-makers). The idea is to look for examples of administrative measures taken by EUMS that successfully addressed identifiable problems with the application of the Directive.
· Advocate before the European institutions and the EU MS where appropriate to build political will to implement the Citizenship Directive to the maximum, rather than the minimum.
· In cooperation with the EU Rights Clinic, ECAS will also gather evidence on specific problems occurring across the EU and submit up to 12 complaints to the Commission and up to 12 petitions to the European Parliament to ensure better enforcement of EU law and the Citizenship Directive.
· Organise a concluding workshop with MEPs in the European Parliament on free movement to raise awareness, showcase the results of the project, build constituencies and discuss the next steps.
· Set up a coordinated digital public-awareness campaign on free movement and mobile citizens’ rights including the interactive guide.
The project is supported by the European Programme for Integration and Migration (EPIM), a collaborative initiative of the Network of European Foundations, and is led by ECAS in partnership with:
- European Alternatives (EA), UK
- Gothenburg Rescue Mission (GRM), Sweden
- EU Rights Clinic (EURC), Belgium
- Krytyka Polityczna (KP), Poland
- Good Lobby (GL), Belgium
Type of product
Online resource
Course / Training
Research, Campaigns
Brief description of the product / outcome / method
See methodology.
Impact on target groups / Transferability potential
To establish permanent direct advocacy towards EU institutions and provide support, resources and training to citizens themselves throughout Europe to take action, to counter the trend towards a restrictive interpretation of the Citizens’ Rights Directive.
Transferable to all EU member states.
Promoter of the initiative
Name of organization / individual: European Citizen Action Service (ECAS)
Website: http://ecas.org
Contacts: European Citizen Action Service (ECAS) 77, Avenue de la Toison d'Or B-1060 Brussels, Belgium +32 (0) 2 548 04 90 +32 (0) 2 548 04 99 info(at)ecas.org