mr president it has been stated already that citizens of the union travel widely
well there are approximately one hundred and eighty million trips made outside of the european union every year and in theory they are protected under article twenty as the commissioner and indeed the council presidency have already provided for in this debate
under article twenty there is a requirement for member states only to provide consular assistance to unrepresented eu nationals on the same terms as their nationals
this difference in approach between member states is recognised within the action plan of two thousand and seven and two thousand and nine
of course there needs to be a criterion as to when and how other consular services should become involved and these break down basically into three
i am not going to go through them but the first two are perfectly sensible
the third puts forward a requirement for that citizen to provide proof of his or her nationality either by means of passport identity card or other document for the diplomatic or consular representation to be provided
there is a real problem here because for any european citizen who is fleeing a situation it is perfectly feasible that they may not actually be in possession of such documentation
assistance is provided in the event of death serious accident serious injury arrest detention assistance to be provided to victims of violent crime and relief and repatriation of distressed citizens of the union
it is extensive but not exhaustive
more work needs to be done there
to make all this happen we have heard about the concept of a lead state which will endeavour to ensure that all eu citizens are assisted and that it will coordinate between member states
that is all very good in theory but in practice i certainly did not see this happen in mumbai
there was no real sharing of information and intelligence not the sort of cooperation i expected to see
instead i saw only competition between member states and further centralisation or consolidation of consular services will risk taking away the flexibility missions require on the ground in rapidly changing circumstances
