In terms of direct action to obtain guides and factsheets, over 450,000 people have contacted Citizens First. Over 200,000 have made phone calls, and over 250,000 people have downloaded more than 1.7 million documents from the Citizens First Internet site. This means that well over three households in every thousand in the Union have already taken steps to obtain tailor-made information about their rights in Europe and its single market. The highest response levels so far are from Italy, Spain, France and Germany. As a percentage of households, Ireland and Spain have the highest rates.
Strong responses are also evident from Luxembourg, Portugal, Greece and Finland.
They simply called the same free phone number they did for guides and factsheets and were guided to national and local organisations for further help. The aim of the Signpost Service is to reinforce public awareness of advice available from existing national and local bodies. The most common themes characterising the first 1,086 Signpost cases relate to social security rights, the recognition of qualifications, the registration of vehicles, rights of residence and establishment, double taxation, equality of treatment and issues on studying in another Member State. The enquiries are ambitious, involving various aspects of Community law and therefore challenging the Signpost team to find out the right way to resolve the problem. Moreover, the type of inquiries received and issues raised with the freephone service will be analysed by the Commission with a view to improving further the advantages of the Union for the individual citizen.