The free circulation of individuals, without any discrimination due to nationality, is one of the fundamental liberties guaranteed by the Treaty of Rome. Nonetheless, access to rights remains a difficult issue. Project Eureka – A Key Access to EU Rights aims to identify the obstacles encountered by European citizens residing in other member states and develop possible solutions, using digital tools to provide key information on mobility. With over 17 million EU citizens residing other member states, this issue is of daily interest to many citizens. The project incentivizes member state social integration policy, assists citizens in overcoming practical obstacles related to looking for a place to live, a job, medical assistance, incentivising new solutions and improving the quality of life of these individuals.
Journalist Alice Facchini interviewed Antonio Ricci, a researcher at the Centro studi e ricerche Idos for the Redattore Sociale Press Agency.
“While the right to mobility is a fundamental founding principle of the European Union, in practice, it’s a problematic issue,” explains Antonio Ricci, a researcher at the IDOS Research Centre, the project lead partner. “European regulations are often only applied partially, and this makes it problematic for many European citizens residing in other member states. We often forget that European citizens are legally not migrants, they are mobile citizens. It makes no sense to request a residence permit from a Romanian citizen.”
The project, which is funded by the European Commission, has 11 partners in 5 countries and will end on December 15. “Many European citizens are disoriented by other states’ bureaucratic systems,” explains Ricci. This led to the idea of a portal and an app, key4mobility.eu, which were developed by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, one the project partners. “The information is available as text or via video tutorials on YouTube,” Ricci adds. “The structure of the platform and app allows the implementation of translation into any language. In fact, we would like to extend our network, to keep the information updated and add new states to our information database.”
“Eureka”, una app e un portale per sostenere la mobilità intra-europea e combattere le discriminazioni
by Alice Facchini
Redattore sociale, Aug. 27, 2021
