EU Citizen Rights: Flights, Healthcare, Residence and Travel

If you checked in on time with a confirmed booking and valid documents but are involuntarily refused for overbooking or an operational reason, current rules normally provide €250–€600 compensation, reimbursement or rerouting, and care. Reasonable health, safety, security or document grounds are different.

A qualifying card issued by your country of residence should be recognised, but it gives you the destination's concessions rather than your home rules. Check country and local conditions, display the original clearly, and verify fees and time limits.

Generally yes if it contains the required patient, prescriber and medicine details. The dispensing country's pharmacy rules, availability and safety checks apply, and you may need to pay in full and claim reimbursement at home.

Usually the law of the deceased's last habitual residence governs the whole succession. A person can expressly choose the law of a country whose nationality they hold; inheritance tax and property registration remain separate national matters.

Yes. If your own EU country has no embassy or consulate effectively able to assist in a non-EU country, another member state's mission must provide consular protection on the same conditions as it provides to its own nationals.

EU citizens can usually travel to another EU country with a valid ID or passport, stay for short periods, and live, work, study, or look for work under EU free movement rules, subject to conditions and local formalities.

During a temporary stay, EHIC can help with medically necessary public healthcare. S1 may register eligible residents when another country remains responsible for their cover. S2 can authorise specified planned treatment abroad.

Eligible distance purchases usually have a 14-day withdrawal period, while faulty or misdescribed goods have a minimum two-year legal guarantee. Delivery, digital-product, repair, and complaint rules also apply, with some national differences and exceptions.

EU citizens living in another EU country can vote and stand in municipal and European Parliament elections there under the same basic conditions as nationals. Registration rules are national, and this right does not automatically cover national elections.

A non-EU spouse joining a mobile EU citizen in another member country normally applies for a family-member residence card when staying longer than three months. National rules usually apply if the EU citizen lives in their own country and has not used free movement.

For an ordinary non-commercial trip, the pet normally needs a readable microchip or qualifying old tattoo, a valid rabies vaccination recorded after identification, and an EU pet passport. Dogs entering Finland, Ireland or Malta also need timed tapeworm treatment.

Under the rules applying in September 2026, a covered journey normally has to reach its final destination at least three hours late. Compensation is €250, €400, or €600 by distance and route, unless the airline proves extraordinary circumstances and reasonable measures.

At an expected final delay of at least 60 minutes, you can normally choose reimbursement or rerouting. Assistance is due, and if you continue you may receive 25% compensation at 60 to 119 minutes or 50% at 120 minutes or more, subject to exclusions.

For a covered passenger service, cancellation or an expected departure delay over 90 minutes normally gives you a choice between reimbursement and rerouting. Care and accommodation can apply, while arrival compensation depends on the scheduled journey length and actual delay.

For a regular service whose full route is at least 250 km, cancellation or an expected departure delay over two hours normally gives you a choice between reimbursement and rerouting. Additional care can apply after 90 minutes on journeys scheduled above three hours.

A qualifying package gives you one organiser responsible for all included travel services, plus information, cancellation, refund, assistance, and insolvency protections. Linked travel arrangements and separate bookings receive narrower or different rights.

For an eligible civil or commercial claim up to €5,000, identify the competent court, complete European Small Claims Form A in an accepted language, attach the evidence, pay the national court fee, and follow the court's deadlines.