Day of Citizens for Europe in Rome, Italy

Protecting Citizens' Rights: challenges and opportunities for EU passengers

Rome, 16th September 2014

Transnational Mobility is the concrete application of one of the main citizens' rights, the free movement of people, guaranteed by the Treaties to EU citizens' since the beginning of the European construction. It is one of the factors which have contributed to the building of a common European identity.
Over the years, the EU has developed a strong policy in this area, which aims at fostering clean, safe and efficient travel throughout Europe, underpinning the internal market of goods and the right of citizens to travel freely throughout the EU.
Mobility is a major challenge for the development of a sustainable economy, which is one of the 3 primary objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20% does actually entail the development of a new mobility strategy, promoting transport modalities with a low impact on the environment.
Finally, public transports are a key question for many European citizens, who use them daily to reach their workplace and/or to carry out their other activities. They are thus interested in the development of accessible and efficient public transports, respectful of passengers' and users' rights. This is the reason why civic activism is especially developed in this field through informal groups (such as commuters groups) or more structured and permanent organisations (e.g. Public transport users associations, Consumer associations, etc.).
To sum up, the Mobility is:

• a common concern for most European citizens;

• a field in which the EU has a large competence and influence capacity;

• a policy which has to evolve to contribute more and more to the development of a sustainable economy;

• a paradigm of European citizenship, inasmuch as it embraces many of its aspects (common identity, European citizens' rights, etc.);

• a field in which everyday citizens experience the ability of the European Union as well as of their own Country to account for a needs to move and, simultaneously, to know how to best protect their rights.

In the field of the protecting EU citizens' rights as passengers, the European branch of Cittadinanzattiva, Active Citizenship Network, organizes a EU webinar next 16th of September in Rome.
Starting from the daily needs and the complaints of EU passengers, commuters and public transport users in the field of mobility, the conference it will be an occasion to:

• better understand the commitment of the EU Institution in the field of Mobility & Transport and passenger rights;

• share concrete experiences from National Countries (Romania, Italy, etc.);

• promote the protection of passenger rights in the framework of European Mobility Week;

• promote a "call to action" in order to strengthen the civic participation in this field.

Based on the conference results, a set of recommendations will be made to institutions and stakeholders to facilitate mutual communication and citizen participation.

The conference working languages are English (I° part) and Italian (II° part). Download the programme

Whatch the live streaming

Download the following documents:

Opening session

• Introductory speech (IT – EN language) by Mariano Votta, Director, Active Citizenship Network

Framework

• Schengen, the right to move and the populist threat to mobility in Europe by Petko Georgiev, Pro Info (Bulgaria)

• The commitment of the EU Institution in the field of Mobility and Transport and “Your Passenger Right at hand” UE campaign by Pedro Jose Garcia Gracia, Unit D4 "Passenger Rights" DG Mobility and Transport 

Meeting the challenges of European Citizens' Mobility from a civic point of view

• Mobility, a paradigm of European citizenship by Mariano Votta, Active Citizenship Network

• Perspectives on urban mobility. Case Study: Bucharest byIrina Zamfirescu, ActiveWatch (Romania)

• Mobility and transport, the view of the citizens in Serbia by Bojana Paunovic, Consumers center of Serbia

How to promote the protection of Passenger Rights in the framework of European Mobility Week

• The role of the European Consumer Centres Network by Pavel Pavlovkin, ECC Net (Slovakia)
• Help and advice for EU nationals and their family in the field of transport by Valentina Mayer, European Citizen Action Service (ECAS) and Your Europe Advice (Belgium)
• Passenger Right and Alternative Dispute Resolution by Radoslav Bonk, Youstice.com (Slovakia)

Call to action: how to improve Passenger Rights through the civic participation by Cittadinanzattiva Consumer policy

• A civic observatory on the cost related with mobility: from National to EU data collection by Tiziana Toto, Director Observatory Prices And Tariffs, Cittadinanzattiva
• Tools to promote the citizen participation: online quiz for self evaluation, free guide, civic survey by Cinzia Pollio, Cittadinanzattiva
• Patients as particular kind of passengers: an overview of their needs in the framework of patients right on cross border care by Mariano Votta

Discussion among participants

• Good practices and Civic Recommendations in the field of mobility by Daniela Quaggia, Active Citizenship Network
• How to design a successful European project by Charlotte Roffiaen, Consultant in European Affairs (www.eu4u.eu)

The protection of passengers' rights in Italy  (by Pit-Cittadinanzattiva)

• La tutela dei diritti dei passeggeri in Italia. Il punto di vista dei cittadini tra “nuovi” diritti e vecchi disservizi” by Isabella Mori, Director PIT-Cittadinanzattiva
• Maggiore protezione per chi viaggia in UE by Claudia Ciriello, PIT-Cittadinanzattiva

Documents

• Short narrative report to introduce roundtable and webinar
• "Policy paper in the field of the protection of EU citizens' rights as passengers", final narrative report with Civic Recommendations
• "Mobility, Healthcare centers and Rights protection", a civic research-action focus on the relationship between mobility and access of care. Download the document (EN – IT version) and related attachments:
  • Annex with 180 records
  • Press review 2013 (January-June 2013, 131 mb / July-December 2013, 129 mb) – 2014 (January-August 2014, 38 mb) with 239 articles 

For more information, please contact Mariano Votta: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

The "Protecting Citizens' Rights: challenges and opportunities for EU passengers" international conference is part of the "Joint Citizen Action for a Stronger, Citizen-Friendly Union" (JoiEU) project, which focuses on coordinating debate and action in 13 European countries on a set of issues focused on citizen participation and strengthening the citizen base of a deeper European integration. The project is funded by the European Union and implemented by a group of international partners led by ProInfo (Bulgaria).

To visit the official website of the project, click here

(Update: December 2014)

The project is realized with the support of the Europe for Citizens Programme of the European Union