Activating Citizenship

The European Year of Citizens 2013 will focus on rights that every EU citizen has. All 500 million Europeans benefit daily from these rights – as does the European economy.

The European Year will encourage dialogue at all levels of government, civil society and business, to explore where you – as citizen – want the EU to be by 2020 – in terms of rights, policies and governance.

The rights of EU citizens are enshrined in the Treaty on European Union and complement national rights. If people know about these rights and use them, they benefit as an individual and the EU has a wole feels this benefit, both economically and in terms of citizen support for the EU project.

The better the people of Europe understand their rights as EU citizens, the more informed their decisions will be.

Informed citizens understand that they have a role to play in the European project. Therefore, they want to engage in the democratic life at all levels. This is the vision for the European Year of Citizens 2013. The Year will provide an opportunity for people throughout Europe to:

• learn about the rights and opportunities open to them through EU citizenship – particularly their right to live and work anywhere in the EU;
• take part in debates about the obstacles to using these rights and generate specific proposals for addressing them;
• participate in civic fora on EU policies and issues;
• prepare to vote in the 2014 European elections and engage in the EU’s democratic life.

Learn more at: http://europa.eu/citizens-2013/en