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ACT for Free Movement

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.

  • Description
  • Timeframe
  • What does ECAS do?

To achieve the above, 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.

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

April 2017- October 2018

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.