The agreement by the Council clarifies when and how EU citizens in distress in a country outside the EU have the right to receive
assistance from other EU countries’ embassies or consulates.
The aim is to ease cooperation between consular authorities and strengthen European citizens’ right to consular protection.
“This Directive represents an important step in consular cooperation within the European Union”, said Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European External Action Service and Vice President of the European Commission.
She added: “Following the Lisbon Treaty, it aims notably at ensuring the right of EU citizens to consular and diplomatic protection in a third country, in which the Member State of which they are a national is not represented. The EEAS and the EU Delegations will actively cooperate with Member States’ embassies and consulates in contributing to these efforts.”
Almost seven million EU citizens travel or live outside the EU in places where their own EU country does not have an embassy or consulate.
The only four countries where all 28 EU countries are represented are the United States, China, India and Russia. During their stay abroad, such “unrepresented citizens” might need assistance from consular authorities, for instance because their passport has been stolen or lost, or because they have been victims of an accident or a crime.
They could also find themselves in the middle of a crisis, such as a natural disaster or political unrest, which might require evacuation.
If that happens, the Directive makes it clear that unrepresented EU citizens have the right to seek help from any other EU country. The other EU countries must provide them with whatever assistance they would provide to their own nationals, which may differ from one EU country to the other. The Directive also clarifies to what extent non-EU family members can get assistance.
The citizens’ EU home country will always be consulted by the country from whom the citizen is seeking help and can, at any time, decide to take care of its own citizens, even when it has no embassy or consulate in the country concerned (for instance by providing information over the phone, contacting family or friends, or by way of online consular services).