European Union citizenship
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
### 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\)


Can non-EU citizens access European government documents?