EU citizenship is a significant achievement of the European project. It does not replace national citizenship but complements it. Nationals of 27 EU Member States are European citizens. EU citizens enjoy, for instance, free movement in the EU, consular protection when travelling abroad, as
well as political and democratic rights, such as the right to participate in elections to the European Parliament. The Commission reports on the application of the EU citizenship provisions every 3 years and proposes new priorities for the next 3 years. The Commission held a public consultation on EU citizenship rights between July and October 2020, which together with the Eurobarometer on EU Citizenship and Democracy as well as other dedicated consultations, informed the 2020 Citizenship Report1.
Open public consultations are not, by nature, statistically representative of the population (unlike, for example, public opinion polls). Therefore, their purpose is not to find answers that could be generalised, but rather to gain in-depth insights that can shed new light on a range of issues. In order for the consultation to provide this in-depth evidence, it contained a number of open and closed questions. In addition to the responses to the survey, 23 position papers were submitted. The majority of the papers came from citizens’ rights advocacy organisations. This report provides a summary of the consultation’s outcomes and some additional insights.

European Commission, Results of the public consultation on EU citizenship rights 2020 – Report, 2020.