The free movement of persons between the Member
States of the EU is one of the basic aims of the Union. What has become
true for capital, goods and services has to be a reality
for people too. A right of free movement
across the EU was originally envisaged only for the working population, as
a single market could not be achieved while limitations to workforce
mobility remained in existence. Yet, thanks to the rising social and human
dimension of the European area, the right to free movement has since been
extended to include all categories of citizens,
to dependants, to students and to those who are no longer economically
active. Since the integration of the Schengen Acquits into Community law,
the notion of "free movement" is used in two senses. First, in the
traditional sense of free movement and secondly in the sense of being able
to cross the internal borders without undergoing checks.
What does the traditional
right to free movement for EU citizens entail?
The right to free movement means that every EU
citizen is entitled to travel freely around
the Member States of the European Union, and
settle anywhere within its territory. No special formalities are
required to enter an EU country. This fundamental right extends to members
of the EU citizen's family, and applies
regardless of their situation or the reason for travel or residence.
Free movement stemming
from the abolition of internal border controls
Although free movement was already enshrined in the
EEC Treaty, not all the Member States went as far as abolishing internal
border checks.
The effective application of free movement was given
a boost in 1985 when Germany, France and the Benelux countries (Belgium,
the Netherlands and Luxembourg) signed an inter-governmental agreement on
this issue of gradually abolishing internal border checks, in the small
Luxembourg border town of Schengen. The Schengen
Agreement was followed in 1990 by the
Schengen Convention, which finally came into force in
1995.
source: European Commission.
