The Lisbon Treaty and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights consolidated the rights, opportunities and safeguards of EU citizenship. These include the freedom to travel, work and study in other EU countries, to participate in European political life and to be protected from discrimination on the basis of nationality. Since EU citizenship was first enshrined in the Maastricht Treaty twenty-five years ago, significant progress has been made to ensure the effectiveness of EU citizens’ rights in practice. Today, two-thirds of Europeans feel they are citizens of the EU, and even more among the younger generations. However, it stressed by the European Commission statements and initiatives that continuous efforts are needed to make sure that all EU citizens know their rights and can fully participate in the European democratic process. This is a political priority for the Commission, which has called for a Union of democratic change.

Promoting awareness of EU citizenship and the values attached to it among Europeans and those acquiring the nationality of a Member State, and in society as a whole, requires a joint effort of all actors concerned at all levels – the Member States, including their local and regional authorities, EU institutions and civil society.

In response to the aforementioned Union-wide challenge of promoting EU citizenship and values, the IMPEU project establishes a multi-stakeholder partnership that promotes cross-border cooperation generating a transnational impact, and elaborates on best practices that are able to create minimum standards regarding the inclusion of EU mobile citizens, providing practical tools in the form of capacity-building enhancement and increased knowledge addressed to civil servants and relevant experts, as well as physical and online information/services mechanisms addressed to citizens, while also implementing wide awareness raising actions on the rights and responsibilities deriving from EU citizenship, and providing policy-makers with evidence-based insights.

Therefore, the IMPEU project, building on the 2017 EU Citizenship Report, fully complies with and contributes to the Lisbon Treaty and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, the 2015 “Paris Declaration on Promoting Citizenship and the common values of freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination through education”, while horizontally intersecting other EU policies, such as the ET2020, the New Skills Agenda, and the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition, promoting better regulation and transparency.