What are the benefits & advantages of being an EU citizen and getting an EU passport?

Skatz tells you everything about the advantages EU citizenship gives you, what fundamental rights you have, and what being an EU citizen means if you want to move to Spain or any other EU country.

Prefer to watch the video? Click above. Or carry on reading for the article!

Skatz: What are the benefits and advantages of being an EU citizen?

Walter: What if I want to move to another EU country?

Tommy: And what if I’m not an EU citizen and want to move to Spain?

S: First I’m going to answer the question: what are the benefits of being an EU citizen? And, since Brexit has turned UK citizens into non-EU citizens, and quite a few of our subscribers are from the UK, later I’ll be briefly explaining the differences between what EU & non-EU citizens need to do if they want to live in an EU country.

W: And will you tell us how to become EU citizens?

S: Yes, but let’s start with the benefits. First of all, EU citizenship is automatically given to people who hold the nationality of an EU country, and with that you have lots of rights. Some of these rights are based on national laws, which might be different from country to country, while others are based on EU laws, which are the same in all EU countries. 

W: What rights are those then?

S: They’re all about everyday life, like shopping, driving, working, healthcare, and family & relationship issues. The first fundamental right is that you can live and move within the EU without being discriminated against on the grounds of nationality. You also get the right to consumer protection, and healthcare if you meet certain requirements. 

T: Can I work in the EU as well?

S: Yes, you have the same right to work as all other EU citizens, and there are lots of laws protecting your rights as a worker. In fact, there’s a whole Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and that’s very important and tells you all about the common values of the countries of the union and what they’re based on. I’ll summarise it, because there’s such a lot of awesome rights set up for everyone’s protection, and such a lot of detail that we’d be here for hours if I told you all about them. If you want to read the full details, HERE is a link to the EU website where the Charter is, and there are other really useful links there as well. 

W: Thank you!

S: So, the EU was founded on the indivisible, universal values of human dignity, freedom, equality and solidarity, and it’s based on the principles of democracy and the rule of law, but at the heart of it is the individual, which is why it’s all about citizenship of a Union, and creating an area of freedom, security and justice for everyone. While every individual citizen has their common values, the EU also respects the different cultures and traditions and national identities of all of its countries, and helps them improve and develop their organisation and it guarantees the free movement of people, services, goods and capital.

W: Sounds like a good thing to me.

S: The Charter is a very good thing. People with common values and respect don’t tend to go to war against each other. And the EU was formed at a time when we were all very aware of what treating some people as inferior to others and giving them fewer rights did to Europe in World War Two. What came out of that was this set of rules that benefits every single individual, including a respect for human dignity.

W: It’s time for a list, number one!

S: Human dignity is inviolable and should be protected.

W: Number two!

S: Everyone has the right to life, so no death penalty.

W: Number three!

S: Everyone has the right to respect for their physical and mental integrity, so no eugenics and no cloning!

W: Number four!

S: No torture, or inhumane treatment or degrading punishments.

W: Number five!

S: No slavery or human trafficking.

W: Number six!

S: The right to liberty and security.

W: Number seven!

S: Respect for privacy and family life, home and communications.

W: Number eight!

S: Protection of personal data.

W: Number nine!

S: The right to marry and have a family.

W: Aw! Number ten!

S: Freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and the right to change your beliefs and the right to conscientious objection.

W: Number eleven!

S: Freedom of expression and information.

T: Is there a lot more?

S: There are fifty four articles.

T: Fifty four! Is that absolutely necessary?

S: Not only necessary, but vitally important.

T: But it’s going to take all day to go through the list!

S: Alright, let’s speed it up a bit so we can move on, I think I can paraphrase even more.

W: Numbers twelve to nineteen!

S: These are all freedoms, there’s freedom of the arts & sciences, the rights to education, work, run a business, own property, get asylum, and finally get protected against extradition or expulsion.

W: Numbers twenty to twenty six!

S: Equality! Everyone is equal, no discrimination on the grounds of culture, religion, language or gender, and the rights of children, the elderly and the disabled are protected.

W: Numbers twenty seven to thirty eight!

S: Solidarity! That’s workers rights protected so working conditions are fair, they can negotiate, get protection, there’s no child labour, you’ve got a right to family life, social security, healthcare, access to services, environmental protection and consumer protection.

W: Numbers thirty nine to forty six!

S: Citizen’s rights, like the right to vote in European and local elections, the right to good administration, access to documents, an independent ombudsman, the right to petition, freedom of movement and residence, and finally diplomatic protection.

W: Numbers forty seven to fifty!

S: Justice! That’s the right to a fair trial, the presumption of innocence, the right of defence, the right to fair and proportional penalties, and the right to not be tried twice for the same offence.

W: And finally, numbers fifty one to fifty four!

S: These are all about general provisions and application of the charter, the scope and interpretation of your rights and principles, the level of protection and the prohibition of the abuse of all of your rights under this charter.

T: Wow! Do you need a lie down now?

S: Not at all Tommy, in fact it’s quite invigorating and good for the soul to hear all of the rights and protections that we all have and that all members of the European Union agreed to, so that we could live in peace and be free.

W: So why did Britain want to leave?

S: That’s a very good question Walter, and one that doesn’t make complete sense to me, I’ll leave that argument for another article.

 T: Can we move on now? My head is going to explode!

S: Okay, let’s talk about what happens if you’re an EU citizen and you want to move to another EU country, and what’s different between that and if you’re a non-EU citizen. The big difference is that if you’re an EU citizen and you have freedom to live and work in the EU, you don’t need a visa to move to another EU country, but if you’re a non-EU citizen you do need a visa, and there are conditions to getting all of the different visas that mean you need, for example, more money, more qualifications, more documents and have a more difficult process before you even find out whether your application is accepted. Then once you arrive you have to apply for residency to complete the process, then renew that residency twice more in the first five years.

T: Blimey!

S: Whereas if you’re a citizen of an EU country you can stroll in and you only need to register with the authorities of that country if you intend to stay there for more than 90 days. You can travel around indefinitely if you want, all the while under the protection of the EU. And you can bring your family, even if they’re not EU citizens and they get more or less the same protections as you.

W: That’s nice!

S: It is, and it’s all because your right to family is protected under the charter, so they can’t split you up, unless one of you breaks the law of course.

T: I love my family!

S: So you keep telling us, Tommy.

T: I can say whatever I want!

S: You can, because you registered as a resident of Spain before Brexit and as part of the Withdrawal agreement you have the same rights as an EU citizen, which means you have freedom of thought and expression, it’s all there in the charter, as long as (and this is very important) it doesn’t go against the rights of another citizen, and just remember that whatever you do say, everyone else has the right to strongly disagree with you if they want. So you can’t just go shouting your mouth off and encouraging people to treat citizens as lesser human beings, that’s against the principles of the EU.

T: You said you’d tell us how to become EU citizens as well.

S: You’re right, to become a citizen of an EU country, you need either to have ancestors from that country, or you need to live there for a length of time.

W: How long for?

S: That depends on the country. In Spain for example, you need to have lived here for ten years if you have no family connections. Or there are some people who can do it quicker, which is why I made a another video all about it. Tell you what, I’ll put a link below to that one.

T: What about other countries?

S: They all have slightly different rules, so the best thing to do is check with the embassy for each country for their citizenship rules. I did make a video about getting Irish citizenship, the link is HERE. Lots of people have Irish roots so it’s been very popular. Is everyone happy now?

W: Yes thank you.

T: I’m very happy! Shall we do the dance again?

S: Why not, Peace & Love

W: Peas & Fluff

T: Oi Oi!

S: Let’s dance!

Article by Skatz, with a little help from Walter & Tommy

Some useful links:

The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:12012P/TXT

Living in the EU (with links to information on your rights as an EU national living in the EU and what to do if those rights are infringed).

https://european-union.europa.eu/live-work-study/living-eu_en

The EU explained – Consumers

https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/2f0e7c29-0d03-11e6-ba9a-01aa75ed71a1

The EU explained – Public Health

https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/8f7733f2-c652-11e5-a4b5-01aa75ed71a1