<\/p>\n
The rule seems quite simple. \u201cFreedom of movement allows citizens of the European Union (EU) to move to, live in, and in certain circumstances access the welfare system of the EU country to which they have moved. Freedom of movement is one of the founding principles of the EU.\u201d\u00a0Freedom of movement and residence for EU nationals and non-EU family members is a fundamental right,\u00a0the most cherished across the continent.<\/a>But there is more to it: \u201cAny EU citizen\u00a0can move to and remain in another EU country<\/a>\u00a0for up to three months. EU citizens who are students may remain for the duration of their studies, but must show that they have sufficient financial support for their period of study. Other EU citizens who wish to stay longer than three months must have comprehensive health insurance and prove that they have financial resources to support themselves.\u201d\u00a0But to what extent are these words close to reality?\u00a0While a cross border move goes smoothly for many, there is still a large number of EU citizens that report facing significant difficulties when trying to exercise their free movement rights.<\/p>\n Across Europe there are also citizens and activists who are taking an active role in campaigning, advocating and defending freedom of movement. For instance,\u00a0ACT4FreeMovement<\/a>\u00a0stands for Advocacy, Complaints, Trainings for Freedom of Movement. The program was run by European Alternatives with a support from\u00a0ECAS\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0EPIM\u00a0<\/a>from September 2017 until October 2018. With a goal to increase the capacity of EU citizens to effectively secure access to and knowledge of their rights, the group of activists campaigned for public awareness and political support for mobile citizen rights and provided support for citizen-led grassroots campaigns on mobile citizen rights.<\/p>\n One example is the campaign\u00a0Crossing borders, creating futures<\/i><\/strong>, which aims at raising awareness of public authorities, schools and students in Eastern Austria on the issue of border controls and differentiated access to education for Hungarian pupils crossing the border to attend schools in the region. The campaign mobilised students and teachers to lobby the regional government for equality of access to education and discontinuation of border controls. There are other reports of violations as well.\u00a0The publication\u00a0\u2018Living in another Member State: barriers to EU citizens\u2019 full enjoyment of their rights\u2018<\/a> more thoroughly shows concrete obstacles country by country.<\/p>\n In a video interview Teresa Buczkowska speaks about the campaign\u00a0Bloody Foreigners<\/em><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0while Dominik Schlett \u00a0shares his experiences about the\u00a0Dare2Move<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0campaign, both part of the Act4FreeMovement project.<\/p>\n