Reports from international meetings on the rights of expats
Europe in Movement Meeting -
Paris, 30 September 2008
Representatives of the expat communities of 24 EU
countries met at the French
Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris on 30
September 2008 to examine the issues
affecting the EU’s 20 million or so
citizens who live in a different member state
from their country of origin.
These 20 million expats embody the EU’s founding
principle that gives European
citizens the freedom to live and work in any member
state of the EU. Although
that founding principle is clear and undisputed, many of
those who have availed
themselves of the right to live and work in another member
state have often
found themselves deprived of their basic rights.
Several MPs representing their own countries’ expats,
diplomats, MEPs and
ministers were also present. Among them were Bernard
Kouchner, the French
Foreign Minister, Xavier Bertrand, the French Labour
Minister, former French
ministers Alain Lamassoure, Catherine Lalumière and
Jacques Barrot, the latter
also then Vice-President of the European Commission.
Enrique Baron Crespo
and Pat Cox, both former Presidents of the EuropeanParliament, also spoke.
With some 2.3 million expats of their own, the French
were clearly showing that
they take expatriate representation very seriously.
The British delegation was successful in having its
seven proposals of principle
included in the final declaration, including the
following:
Voting rights: No citizens of the EU shall be
deprived of the right to vote in national
elections by reason of their place of
residence.
Representation of expatriates: Every EU
member state shall maintain structures for
the representation of its citizens
living abroad.
Europe in Movement Meeting -
Rome, April 2011
The follow-up to the Paris Europe on the Move meeting
on 30 September 2008 was
held in the Italian Senate in Rome on 30 April 2010.
Some 130 participants attended,
representing European communities across the
continents.
The meeting was organised by the Consiglio Generale
degli Italiani all’Estero (CGIE),
or the General Council of Italians Abroad.
The CGIE represents all Italians residing
abroad at all institutions
implementing policies affecting them. Italians living abroad
elect 18 national MPs through 124 community committees.
Speakers included prominent members of the Italian
Senate and the CGIE, including
the Senate Vice-President and former
European Commissioner Senator Emma Bonino,
and Senators Claudio Micheloni and
Lamberto Dini. The meeting was coordinated by
the Secretary General of the
CGIE, Elio Carozza.
Senator Joelle Garriaud-Maylam of France made a
special plea to have voting rights
explicitly mentioned in the final
declaration, given that they are denied to British citizens
after 15 years’
residence abroad.
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