WRITTEN QUESTION E-0403/02 by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN), Roberta Angelilli (UEN), Sergio Berlato (UEN),Roberto Bigliardo (UEN), Sebastiano Musumeci (UEN), Antonio Mussa (UEN),Mauro Nobilia (UEN), Adriana Poli Bortone (UEN), Franz Turchi (UEN)and Mariotto Segni (UEN) to the Commission. Residence permits.
Date: 2002-02-20
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Belgium, EU national, European citizenship, discrimination on the basis of nationality, free movement of persons, identity document, residence permit

12.12.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 309 E/21

The President and Vice-Presidents do not receive salaries, but are reimbursed on a flat-rate basis for
expenditure they have to incur in performing their duties on behalf of the Convention.

Lastly, the Council, in common with the European Parliament and the Commission, periodically receives a
report on the implementation of the budget of the Convention, in accordance with the rules for the
management of the budget.

(1) OJ L 123, 9.5.2002, p. 40.

(2002/C 309 E/025)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0403/02

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN), Roberta Angelilli (UEN), Sergio Berlato (UEN),
Roberto Bigliardo (UEN), Sebastiano Musumeci (UEN), Antonio Mussa (UEN),
Mauro Nobilia (UEN), Adriana Poli Bortone (UEN), Franz Turchi (UEN)
and Mariotto Segni (UEN) to the Commission

Subject: Residence permits

(20 February 2002)

Despite the much celebrated article in the Treaty of Maastricht providing for the creation of European
citizenship, and despite the much heralded arrival of the single currency, Italian citizens in Europe, and in
Belgium in particular, still suffer blatant discrimination.

Belgian legislation, like that of many other European Union countries (Germany, Netherlands, etc), does
not allow the issue of a national identity card but still provides merely for a residence permit as the valid
identity document for all Italian citizens resident in Belgium and Europe.

Will the Commission:

(cid:1) remove the residence permit requirement for Italian citizens in Belgium and in all other Union

countries;

(cid:1) make representations to the authorities of all European Union countries to ensure that Member State
citizens are issued with a national document and that such documents are recognised as being valid
throughout Union territory;

(cid:1) introduce practical measures to make the principle of Union citizenship a reality?

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(8 March 2002)

First, it should be remembered that the Community rules currently in force provide that a document
known as a ‘residence permit for a Member State of the European Union’ will be issued to EU citizens as
proof of their right to reside in a Member State other than the one of which they are nationals.

The Commission has put forward a proposal for a Parliament and Council Directive on the right of
citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the
Member States (1), currently being discussed by Parliament and the Council, which proposes to abolish the
residence permit during the first four years of residence and, after four years of residence, the issue of a
permanent residence permit.

The proposed Directive is intended, as the Honourable Members have hoped, to give a more specific
content to citizenship of the Union by making it easier to enjoy the right to freedom of movement and
residence. The introduction of a permanent residence permit together with a right to social benefits and
protection against expulsion is an example of this aim.

The residence permit is a very different document from the national identity card, which is issued by a
Member State to its nationals. It is for each Member State to issue an identity card or passport to its
nationals and there are Member States that do not issue identity cards at all.

(1) OJ C 270 E, 25.9.2001.