European Union and consular assistance

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Are you an EU citizen living in/travelling to a country in which your nation of citizenship does not have a consulate? Within the framework of two European directives, you have the right to assistance from any other consulate of a Member State.

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Consular protection for European citizens

Within the framework of Directive 2015/637 issued by the Council of Europe in April 2015 and that you can find here: Directive – 2015/637 – EN – EUR-Lex (europa.eu), any EU citizen who is in a territory where his own country does not have a Consulate or Honorary Consulate, or if the latter cannot offer him consular protection, can turn to the Consulate of another Member State. They will benefit from the same conditions as if they were a national of that country, provided that they can prove that they are indeed a national of a Member State (by showing their passport or national identity card, for example).

Concretely: if you are Croatian and find yourself in a complicated situation in Kenya, you can go to the Consulate of France in Nairobi, as there is no Croatian Consulate in Kenya (the closest is in South Africa, in Pretoria).

Please note that this protection only applies in specific situations, such as:

Arrest or detention
Victim of a criminal offence, a crime or an offence
Accident / Critical illness
Death
Emergency Assistance/Repatriation
Loss of travel documents

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Temporary travel document

In 2019, another directive that you can find here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1561378310196&uri=CELEX:32019L0997 has completed this assistance by offering a temporary travel document to unrepresented citizens of the European Union, in case of loss, theft or destruction of their passport. This title is called the Emergency Travel Document ( ETD – EU).

In 2002, the technical details were established (format, size, colours,….) and the Member States now have until December 2024 to transpose this directive and these specificities into their national law, and will have to apply them concretely from December 2025 at the latest. In France, the Council of Ministers approved a draft bill in February 2024 and is now awaiting the approval of the Council of State.