Definition of Free movement of persons

EU English Glossary
Free movement of persons (visas, asylum, immigration and other policies)
The Treaty of Amsterdam has written a new Title IV into the EC Treaty. It covers the following fields:

•free movement of persons;
•controls on external borders;
•asylum, immigration and safeguarding the rights of third-country nationals;
•judicial cooperation in civil matters.

These fields used to come under Title VI of the EU Treaty (Justice and home affairs), but now the Treaty of Amsterdam has "communitised" them, in other words, brought them under the legal framework of the first pillar.
During a five-year transition period following the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam:

•the Commission shares the right of initiative with the Member States;
•the Council acts unanimously (except for certain rules on visas) after consulting the European Parliament;
•the Court has jurisdiction in accordance with the rules of the EC Treaty (apart from a few exceptions under Article 62, point 1).

After this five-year period:

•the Commission will have sole right of initiative;
•the Council will be able to decide unanimously, after consulting the European Parliament, on the application of qualified-majority voting and the codecision procedure;
•however, the transition to qualified-majority voting and to the codecision procedure will be automatic (without a unanimous vote by the Council) for the issuing of visas and the rules concerning the uniform visa.

The Treaty of Nice has extended the scope of this automatic transition from unanimous to qualified-majority voting. First, qualified-majority voting applies from the entry into force of the Treaty of Nice in the fields of asylum and refugees (on condition that Community legislation has been adopted) and of judicial cooperation in civil matters with a cross-border dimension, except for aspects involving family law. Second, qualified-majority voting will apply from 1 May 2004 (in accordance with the five-year transition period) to measures concerning the free movement of nationals of non-member countries on the territory of the Member States for a maximum period of three months, illegal immigration, and administrative cooperation on the free movement of persons.

On the basis of the Treaty of Amsterdam, the United Kingdom and Ireland have opted out of measures taken under Title IV. Denmark will participate only in measures relating to visas.See:

•Area of freedom, security and justice
•Communitisation
•Justice and home affairs (JHA)
•Opting out
•Pillars of the Union
•Title VI of the EU Treaty


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European Commission Glossary of Justice and home affairs
free movement of persons
A fundamental right of EU citizenship, allowing citizens to travel, live and work freely throughout the EU. The Treaty of Amsterdam communitised the area, giving the Commission a greater role in proposing initiatives. (See EU citizenship: Right to move and reside freely, Freedom to travel, Judicial-civil)


Free movement of persons Definition from Encyclopedia Dictionaries & Glossaries

Wikipedia English - The Free Encyclopedia
Four Freedoms (European Union)
For article on Franklin D. Roosevelt’s four freedoms, see "Four Freedoms".
In European Union law, the Four Freedoms is a common term for a set of Treaty provisions, secondary legislation and court decisions, protecting the ability of Goods, Services, Capital, and Labour to move freely within the Internal Market of the European Union. More precisely, they are:
  • The free movement of goods;
  • The free movement of services and freedom of establishment;
  • The free movement of persons (and citizenship), including free movement of workers;
  • The free movement of capital.
These four freedoms form part of the substantive law of the EU. Although it is not easy to summarize compactly the activities of the European Union, one can define them as the free flow of economic factors, in pursuit of greater prosperity of the states and its citizens. The law of the Single Market plays a key role there by removing the barriers that Member States might otherwise impose on trade originating in other Member States.

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