Regardless of where you live, the European Union not only affects your life, but may also transform it. By learning how Europe works, a new world will open up to you and discover new jobs you never heard of. The European Union has a large, yet often unnoticed, impact on many aspects of everybody’s life. We will analyze what the EU is doing for YOU regardless of where you live. We will also look at what YOU can do for and in Europe. Whether you are traveling, eating, working, doing business, shopping, surfing the Internet or breathing, all these activities are largely shaped by the EU. As a result no global citizen, business leader, lawmaker, lobbyist or student can effectively operate in Europe or in the world without a solid understanding of this unique laboratory of integration. While the EU is often depicted as a monstrous bureaucratic creature, condemned to irrelevance by the emerging economies, in 50 years it accomplished what other countries took centuries to realize. The EU remains the most accomplished experiment of economic, social and political integration in human history. Given its inherent complexities, this Course aims at empowering you on what Europe can offer and will enable you to discover jobs and opportunities you were not aware of. Indeed, throughout the whole course, participants will be confronted with real-life examples of EU action. EU affairs professionals will share their personal EU experiences and tell us about their EU jobs. You will also be able to interact with the instructor and other participants, share your opinions, question the instructor’s assumptions and hence shape the course’s content.
The EU Citizens
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From the course by HEC Paris
Understanding Europe: Why It Matters and What It Can Offer You
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From the lesson
Who is the European Union?
Putting a face on the EU. Who is it? Who are its main actors? By whom is it composed? You will identify who decides in Europe and learn how to interact with its main actors.
Meet the Instructors
Alberto AlemannoJean Monnet Professor of EU Law and Risk Regulation
[MUSIC]
What do people who speak more than dozens of languages and live in a region
that extends from the Arctic circle to the coast of Africa, have in common?
Well, they all live in Europe, and form as such a European population.
This is made up of some 507 million people
Who are, and today can be identified as European citizens.
The European citizens, altogether, they represent
the largest player in the European game,
but unfortunately they are not necessarily the most vocal.
But, what does being a European citizen entail and which
are the rules governing their moves in the European game?
Every person holding the nationality of a member
state is also a citizen of the Union.
So if you're a french citizen you're also a European citizen.
See if you are Italian citizen, as I am, I am also a
European citizen.
The European Union citizenship introduced in 1992 is somewhat special.
It does not replace the national citizenship but it is additional to it.
That's why, a French citizen is also a European citizen.
That's why I am a European citizen, without giving up my Italian citizenship.
Therefore, it is for each country to
lay down the conditions for the acquisitions and
loss of nationality of that particular country.
Be it France or Italy.
Interestingly enough, all passports of European member states,
issued since the mid 1980s have been printed in
similar shades of burgundy, and today mention the European Union
alongside the name and symbol of the member state.
This is a Danish passport, and this is an Italian one.
But does, what does the European citizenship add to their holders?
What does being a European citizen add to my Italian citizenship?
Well, first of all, it confirms, to the citizens, the right of free movement.
A right of free movement, and residence throughout the Union.
And the right to work in any position. This means freedom,
geographical freedom.
And the possibility, as I mentioned in the first class, of leaving the European Union.
Trying to seize more opportunities outside of its own country.
But right of residence is mainly subject to
two conditions. If I want to establish in
another country, as I actually did, I needed to show that I had basically two things.
One, health insurance cover in the host country.
Therefore, I won't be too bothersome on that
particular social welfare country and health care system.
And, also, to have sufficient income from any source and not
necessarily coming from the EU country, it might be coming from another one.
In order to show that you can live without needing income support.
Again the idea
is not to be too cumbersome on that particular country who was hosting it.
But there is a further right.
The right not to be discriminated against the, on grounds
of nationality, within the scope of the application of the treaty.
So, these additional rights, it comes with the European citizenship.
Thus, if you get a job in another country, you
cannot be paid less, than, than a national of that country for
the very same job.This would be very disappointing.
The European Court of Justice has played,a
very significant role in making this European citizenship effective
and turning these rights, which are written on
paper, into a reality for several hundred thousand people.
Instead of only dealing with cross-border cases,
it has also a progressively ensured that nationals
can also fully enjoy the rights in their
own state and this of course, is fundamental.
Still, a lot remains to be done to remove concrete
discriminations against non-nationals in minorities,
particularly in some member states.
Apart from free movement rights, which means that all citizens have
the right to move to other member states,that European citizens,
enjoy, the European citizen enjoys a number of rights, of additional rights.
Citizens in Europe they can seek the help of any
European embassy abroad where their own state does not have representation, or
address the European Institutions in any of the official languages of
the EU and receive a reply in the very same language.
These are very important rights which are attached to the European citizen.
But, European's also enjoy political rights.
They have the right to vote and run for political offices in
local and European Parliament elections,in
whichever state they are legally a resident.
So, a French, citizen who is residing in Spain can run for
elections and also vote in elections, at both the local and European level.
But let me give you some
famous examples.
The French jurist Maurice Duverger sat in the European Parliament as an MEP.
As a member of the European Parliament for
the Italian Communist Party between 1989 and 1994.
And the Finnish rally driver Ari Vatanen, has been elected
to the European Parliament first in Finland, and then in France.
But it is Daniel Cohn-Bendit who holds the record, having been elected in 1994 in
Germany, in 1999 in France, and in 2004 in Germany, and back in France in 2009.
The so-called democratic deficit that has been discussed
so much it is therefore another myth to be debunked.
The representation of European citizens in the Euro institutions, follows the very
same rules of representative democracy that
apply to the representation of citizens
in most of the member states.
We will also see later on in this course
that European citizens can express their views also through
some instruments of participatory democracy such as the
European Citizens initiative, and petition to the European parliament.
While free movement is the European right most cherished by Europeans, only 14
million out of 500 European citizens reside in another member state.
This number may appear little but does not, does not
really include all those citizens, around 200 millions, 210 millions
who still reside in their own country of origin but
cross the border to travel, work, or study abroad each year.
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