"Easier to move a sack of potatoes around Europe than an EU citizen"

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 6th Sep 2000

Diana Wallis, Lib Dem Euro-MP for Yorkshire and the Humber, will be speaking today in the European Parliament supporting calls for students to be more freely able to live in other EU Member States.

A report from the European Commission suggests that many EU countries are not living up to their obligations. With the introduction of the Internal Market in 1992 every EU citizen has the right to reside in any Member State - whether a worker, student, pensioner or otherwise.

"At the moment, you can move a sack of potatoes around Europe more easily than you can an EU citizen," commented Diana Wallis, a Member of the Committee that is discussing this report today.

"This Commission report suggests that many Member States are dragging their heels in implementing this right. Students studying in other EU countries should be able to do so with as little hindrance as possible."

Diana has heard numerous stories of students having to fill in reams of official forms and being asked for ludicrous amounts of personal detail when simply trying to take up residency in another Member State.

"EU citizenship is all too often an empty phrase," continued Diana.

"Everyone has the right to live anywhere in the European Union - whether a farmer working in Finland, a student studying in Spain, or a pensioner retiring to the sunny coasts of Portugal.

"This report will go some way to making EU citizenship a reality for the many, rather than the few."