In 2022, after two years of the pandemic crisis drastically impacting mobility within the European Union, citizens began to travel again: for tourism, work and study. How businesses operate has been irrevocably altered: teleworking has become a norm. The war in Ukraine has also had significant repercussions on the internal market.
These dynamics are reflected in the latest annual trends report of Your Europe Advice (YEA).
Citizens experienced obstacles imposed not only by national administrations but also by private entities. Many citizens were well informed but still sought a remedy for their situation.
In 2022, the most important topics regarding the number of received enquiries, were social security, residence rights and entry procedures. These top three positions are retained from 2021.
Compared with previous years, there was an increase in issues relating to working in another country; tax, in part associated with new teleworking issues; and questions on consumer law.
The enquiries received were related from citizens from all 27 EU countries, Norway, Iceland, and third-country nationals who were family members of EU citizens. Fourteen percent of enquiries (+3% compared to 2021) were from third-country nationals.
In 2022, there were fewer questions from British nationals than in previous years due to Brexit and significantly more enquiries from Italian, German, Spanish and Romanian citizens.
Last year, new trends emerged and the enquiries received from citizens involved increasingly complex issues from moving to technical queries from European businesses trying to cope with the economic crisis triggered by the conflict in Ukraine.
COVID-19, the consequences of Brexit, the ongoing war in Ukraine and the refugee crisis exacerbated existing problems and showed new concerns from citizens.
