On the Move - The reality of free movement for young  European citizens migrating in times of crisis

This project aims to discover more about the barriers that interfere with the full enjoyment of the right to free movement. It addresses the reality of free movement from the point of view of young European citizens (age 25-35) who exercise or plan to exercise their right. What are the drivers of and barriers to free movement and how to improve the knowledge and awareness of national and EU authorities on barriers to free movement face by young people?

The project aims to deepen the knowledge and understanding of the barriers that occur when young people exercise this right, whether `real` or `perceived`, legal, administrative or social in nature, to identify root causes and propose solutions to make free movement an accessible reality. The Directive 2004/38/EC on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States, provides the legal basis for this project. The efms works on this project as a Co-Partner with the Centre for European Constitutional Law.

Three main target groups (young citizens across Europe; local, regional and national authorities competent on free movement and EU Institutions) will be addressed within the project. It aims to identify the real and perceived obstacles and barriers faced when exercising the right to free movement; to identify the practices that promote or hinder the enjoyment of this right; to raise awareness among young people to raise awairness of their rights and among national and EU bodies on barriers and ways to address them as well as to propose legislative and non-legislative solutions for making the right to free movement effective.

The methodological approach includes an analysis of national legislation and a qualitative research based on face to face interviews with young European citizens and representatives of competent (national) authorities and NGOs in 15 EU member states (DE, BE, AT, NL,UK,FR,IT). The output of the project contains besides the national reports a best practice manual for national authorities and a manual addressing myths among young people as well as well as awareness events and a workshop in Brussels with young persons.

Project Partners:
Centre for European Constitutional Law (GR) (Project Coordinator)
European Training& Research Centre for Human Rights & Democracy (AT)
Centre for Sociological Research, KU Leuven (BE)
Center for the Study of Democracy (BG)
Symfiliosi (CY)
Institute of Studies (EE)
Institut Français des droits et libertés (FR)
European Forum for Migration Studies, University of Bamberg (DE)
Cooperation for the Development of Emerging Countries (IT)
Art.1 (NL)
Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (PL)
Centro de Estudos Intervencao Social (PT)
Institute for Public Policy(RO)
Instituto Universitario de Estudios sobre Migraciones, Universidad Pontificia Comillas (ES)
Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London

Project Duration: November 2015 - October 2017

Researchers: Prof. Dr. Daniel Göler, Nevin Uca

Publications:
Prof. Dr. Daniel Göler, Nevin Uca: National Report: Germany, Bamberg 2017
OTM Project Consortium: Manual for Authorities on good practices, Athens 2017
OTM Project Consortium: Manual for Young People, Athens 2017