European Union citizenship
Stated rights
Stated rights
-------------

The rights of EU Citizens are enumerated in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Historically, the main benefit of being a citizen of an EU state has been that of free movement. The free movement also applies to the citizens of [European Economic Area](/wiki/European_Economic_Area "European Economic Area") countries and Switzerland. However, with the creation of EU citizenship, certain political rights came into being.

### The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

The adoption of the [Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union](/wiki/Charter_of_Fundamental_Rights_of_the_European_Union "Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union") (CFR) enshrined specific political, social, and economic rights for EU citizens and residents. Title Five of the CFR focuses specifically on the rights of EU Citizens. Protected rights of EU citizens include the following:

* The right to vote and to stand as a candidate at elections to the European Parliament.
* The right to vote and to stand as a candidate at municipal elections.
* The right to good administration.
* The right of access to documents.
* The right to petition.
* Freedom of movement and of residence.
* Diplomatic and consular protection.

### Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union

The [Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union](/wiki/Treaties_of_the_European_Union%23Treaty_on_the_functioning_of_the_European_Union "Treaties of the European Union#Treaty on the functioning of the European Union") provides for citizens to be "directly represented at Union level in the [European Parliament](/wiki/European_Parliament "European Parliament")" and "to participate in the democratic life of the Union" ([Treaty on the European Union](/wiki/Treaties_of_the_European_Union%23Treaty_on_European_Union "Treaties of the European Union#Treaty on European Union"), Title II, Article 10\). Specifically, the following rights are afforded:
* **Accessing European government documents**: a right to access to documents of the EU government, whatever their medium. (Article 15\).
* **Freedom from any discrimination on nationality**: a right not to be discriminated against on grounds of nationality within the scope of application of the Treaty (Article 18\);
* **Right to not be discriminated against**: The EU government may take appropriate action to combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation (Article 19\);
* **Right to free movement and residence**: a right of [free movement and residence](/wiki/Four_Freedoms_%28European_Union%29 "Four Freedoms (European Union)") throughout the Union and the right to work in any position (including national civil services with the exception of those posts in the public sector that involve the exercise of powers conferred by public law and the safeguard of general interests of the State or local authorities (Article 21\) for which however there is no one single definition);
* **Voting in European elections**: a [right to vote](/wiki/Right_to_vote "Right to vote") and [stand](/wiki/Candidate%23Candidates_in_elections "Candidate#Candidates in elections") in [elections to the European Parliament](/wiki/Elections_in_the_European_Union "Elections in the European Union"), in any [EU member state](/wiki/Member_state_of_the_European_Union "Member state of the European Union") (Article 22\)
* **Voting and running in municipal elections**: a right to vote and stand in [local elections](/wiki/Local_election "Local election") in an EU state other than their own, under the same conditions as the nationals of that state (Article 22\)
* **Right to consular protection**: a right to protection by the diplomatic or consular authorities of other Member States when in a non\-EU Member State, if there are no diplomatic or consular authorities from the citizen's own state (Article 23\)
	+ This is due to the fact that not all member states maintain embassies in every country in the world (some countries have only one embassy from an EU state).[Central African Republic](/wiki/Central_African_Republic "Central African Republic") (France, EU delegation), [Comoros](/wiki/Comoros "Comoros") (France), [Lesotho](/wiki/Lesotho "Lesotho") (Ireland, EU delegation), [San Marino](/wiki/San_Marino "San Marino") (Italy), [São Tomé and Príncipe](/wiki/S%C3%A3o_Tom%C3%A9_and_Pr%C3%ADncipe "São Tomé and Príncipe") (Portugal), [Timor\-Leste](/wiki/Timor-Leste "Timor-Leste") (Portugal, EU delegation), [Vanuatu](/wiki/Vanuatu "Vanuatu") (France, EU delegation)
* **Petitioning Parliament and the Ombudsman**: the right to petition the [European Parliament](/wiki/European_Parliament "European Parliament") and the right to apply to the [European Ombudsman](/wiki/European_Ombudsman "European Ombudsman") to bring to his attention any cases of poor administration by the [EU institutions](/wiki/Institutions_of_the_European_Union "Institutions of the European Union") and bodies, with the exception of the legal bodies (Article 24\)This right also extends to "any natural or legal person residing or having its registered office in a Member State": [Treaty of Rome](http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/treaties/dat/12002E/htm/C_2002325EN.003301.html) (consolidated version), Article 194\.
* **Language rights**: the right to apply to the [EU institutions](/wiki/Institutions_of_the_European_Union "Institutions of the European Union") in one of the [official languages](/wiki/Languages_of_the_European_Union "Languages of the European Union") and to receive a reply in that same language (Article 24\)

### Free movement rights

Article 21 Freedom to move and reside
Article 21 (1\) of the [Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union](/wiki/Treaties_of_the_European_Union%23Treaty_on_the_functioning_of_the_European_Union "Treaties of the European Union#Treaty on the functioning of the European Union") states that 
> Every citizen of the Union shall have the right to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States, subject to the limitations and conditions laid down in this Treaty and by the measures adopted to give it effect.

The [European Court of Justice](/wiki/European_Court_of_Justice "European Court of Justice") has remarked that, 
> EU Citizenship is destined to be the fundamental status of nationals of the Member States[Case C\-184/99](http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:61999J0184:EN:NOT) *Rudy Grzelczyk v Centre public d'aide sociale d'Ottignies\-Louvain\-la\-Neuve* .

The ECJ has held that this Article confers a [directly effective](/wiki/Direct_effect "Direct effect") right upon citizens to reside in another Member State.[Case C\-413/99](http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:61999J0413:EN:NOT) *Baumbast and R v Secretary of State for the Home Department*, para. \[85]\-\[91]. Before the case of *Baumbast*, it was widely assumed that non\-economically active citizens had no rights to residence deriving directly from the EU Treaty, only from directives created under the Treaty. In *Baumbast*, however, the ECJ held that (the then)Now article 20 Article 18 of the EC Treaty granted a generally applicable right to residency, which is limited by secondary legislation, but *only* where that secondary legislation is proportionate.[Durham European Law Institute, European Law Lecture 2005](http://www.ecas.org/file_uploads/1055.pdf) , p. 5\. Member States can distinguish between nationals and Union citizens but only if the provisions satisfy the test of proportionality. Migrant EU citizens have a "legitimate expectation of a limited degree of financial solidarity... having regard to their degree of integration into the host society". See also [Case C\-209/03](http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:62003J0209:EN:NOT) *R (Dany Bidar) v. London Borough of Ealing and Secretary of State for Education and Skills*, para. \[56]\-\[59]. Length of time is a particularly important factor when considering the degree of integration.

The ECJ's case law on citizenship has been criticised for subjecting an increasing number of national rules to the proportionality assessment. Also, the right to free movement is not fully available to certain groups of Union citizens because of the various hurdles they face in real life. For example, transgender EU citizens face problems getting identity documents and going through identity checks, reuniting with their family members and accompanying children, as well as accessing social assistance. The scale of those issues gives grounds that only a limited form of EU citizenship is available to transgender people.

Article 45 Freedom of movement to work
Article 45 of the [Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union](/wiki/Treaties_of_the_European_Union%23Treaty_on_the_functioning_of_the_European_Union "Treaties of the European Union#Treaty on the functioning of the European Union") states that 
> 

State employment reserved exclusively for nationals varies between member states. For example, training as a barrister in Britain and Ireland is not reserved for nationals, while the corresponding French course qualifies one as a 'juge' and hence can only be taken by French citizens. However, it is broadly limited to those roles that exercise a significant degree of public authority, such as judges, police, the military, diplomats, senior civil servants or politicians. Note that not all Member States choose to restrict all of these posts to nationals.

Much of the existing secondary legislation and case law was consolidated in the Citizens' Rights [Directive 2004/38/EC on the right to move and reside freely](/wiki/Directive_2004/38/EC_on_the_right_to_move_and_reside_freely "Directive 2004/38/EC on the right to move and reside freely") within the EU.[Directive 2004/38/EC](http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32004L0038:EN:NOT) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States.

Limitations
New member states may undergo transitional regimes for [Freedom of movement for workers](/wiki/Freedom_of_movement_for_workers "Freedom of movement for workers"), during which their nationals only enjoy restricted access to labour markets in other member states. EU member states are permitted to keep restrictions on citizens of the newly acceded countries for a maximum of seven years after accession. For the [EFTA](/wiki/European_Free_Trade_Association "European Free Trade Association") states (Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway and Switzerland), the maximum is nine years.
Following the [2004 enlargement](/wiki/2004_enlargement_of_the_European_Union "2004 enlargement of the European Union"), three "old" member states—Ireland, Sweden and the United Kingdom—decided to allow unrestricted access to their labour markets. By December 2009, all but two member states—[Austria](/wiki/Austria "Austria") and Germany—had completely dropped controls. These restrictions too expired on 1 May 2011\.

Following the [2007 enlargement](/wiki/2007_enlargement_of_the_European_Union "2007 enlargement of the European Union"), all pre\-2004 member states except [Finland](/wiki/Finland "Finland") and Sweden imposed restrictions on Bulgarian and Romanian citizens, as did two member states that joined in 2004: [Malta](/wiki/Malta "Malta") and [Hungary](/wiki/Hungary "Hungary"). As of November 2012, all but 8 EU countries have dropped restrictions entirely. These restrictions too expired on 1 January 2014\. Norway opened its labour market in June 2012, while Switzerland kept restrictions in place until 2016\.

Following the [2013 enlargement](/wiki/2013_enlargement_of_the_European_Union "2013 enlargement of the European Union"), some countries implemented restrictions on Croatian nationals following the country's EU accession on 1 July 2013\. As of March 2021, all EU countries have dropped restrictions entirely.


Can citizens of new member states access labour markets in other member states immediately after accession?