Free movement of persons constitutes one of the fundamental freedoms of the internal market, to the benefit of EU citizens, of the Member States and of the competitiveness of European economy. It is one of the rights mentioned in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (Article 45). In the first days of the European project, only workers benefited from free movement (Article 39 of the EC Treaty). Over time, this right was extended to all EU citizens. Citizenship of the Union confers on every EU citizen a primary and individual right to move and reside freely on the territory of the Union, subject to the limitations and conditions laid down in the Treaty and to the measures adopted to give it effect (Article 18 of the EC Treaty). Such limitations and conditions are to be found in Directive 2004/38/EC. The Directive codified the existing legislation and case-law in the area of free movement, and simplified it in the interest of reader-friendliness and clarity.

Citizens from Member States that joined the EU recently enjoy unrestricted right of free movement. Transitional arrangements apply only to access to labour markets. The Directive is fundamental not only for more than 8 million [3] EU citizens who reside in another Member State and their family members, but also for the millions of EU citizens travelling every year inside the EU.

The significance of the right of free movement is underlined by the expectations of EU citizens. A recent survey [4] has shown that 88% of respondents know of this right [5], an increase of 4% since the last such survey in 2002.

This Report has been drawn up on the basis of many sources, including a study [6] analysing the conformity of national provisions with the Directive, a questionnaire on practical implementation of the Directive answered by the Member States, the Commission’s own investigations, individual complaints, co-operation with the European Parliament, Parliamentary resolutions, questions and petitions and discussions with Member States on practical issues arising from application of the Directive.

1 Directive 2004/38/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29.4.2004 on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States amending Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68 and repealing Directives 64/221/EEC,
68/360/EEC, 72/194/EEC, 73/148/EEC, 75/34/EEC, 75/35/EEC, 90/364/EEC, 90/365/EEC and
93/96/EC (OJ L 158, 30.4.2004, p. 77).
2 See also the European Parliament resolution of 15 November 2007 on application of Directive
2004/38/EC - P6_TA(2007)0534.
3 Fifth Report on Citizenship of the Union (1 May 2004 – 30 June 2007) - COM(2008) 85.
4 Flash Eurobarometer survey No 213, with over 27000 randomly selected EU citizens interviewed in November 2007.
5 According to the latest Quarterly Activity Report covering the period between January to March 2008 (ec.europa.eu/europedirect/call_us/statistics/index_en.htm), the biggest share of enquiries submitted to the EUROPE DIRECT Service concerned cross border issues (to travel, work, live or study in another Member State) – 22%. Between January and October 2006, 84% of enquiries replied by the Citizens Signpost Service concerned those rights (Feedback report What the Database Tells us - ec.europa.eu/citizensrights/front_end/about/index_en.htm).
6 The study reflects the state of transposition on 1 August 2008.