Brussels, 29/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - The diplomatic and consular services of all EU member states must give every European citizen searching for assistance abroad the same protection that they grant their own nationals, the European Parliament said during its plenary session in Strasbourg last week in a report adopted by 596 vote for, 66 against and 12 abstentions. MEPs consider in this report by Edit Bauer (EPP, Slovakia) that “any EU citizen in difficulty abroad, for example after suffering an accident, violence or robbery, or caught up in a crisis situation, should be free to seek assistance from the embassy or consulate of any other EU member state, or where appropriate, from the EU delegation, if their own country is not represented”.
The European Parliament calls in its resolution for EU delegations in third countries (managed by the European External Action Service) to assume responsibility for monitoring cooperation and coordination between member states, including the division of tasks so that citizens who are not represented may be fully assisted in case of crisis. Where necessary, EU delegations should be in charge of consular tasks. They should also be authorised to enter into local arrangements with member state representations with regard to sharing the costs and exchanging information, MEPs say.
In December 2011 Commissioner for Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Viviane Reding proposed a directive strengthening the consular protection of Europeans, following on from the war in Libya and the tsunami in Fukushima. In 2011, various crises in the world directly affected about 150,000 EU citizens - in Libya and Egypt after the democratic uprisings in the spring of 2011, and in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami, according to Commission figures. (SP/transl.fl)