Seek help abroad at the consulate of any EU country if there is no representative office of the native state: you can and should! The European authorities intend to make a reminder of this norm, unknown to many Europeans, in their passports.
In parallel, the EU authorities are planning to improve the system of consular services for their citizens outside the EU: it is about creating mixed consulates of several EU countries, opening hot lines on which a European can quickly get advice.
Currently, only three states of the world – China, Russia and the USA – have representative offices of all 27 EU countries on their territory.
For the first time, EU authorities spoke about the need to optimize consular services for European citizens abroad after the Asian tsunami of 2004. Then hundreds of thousands of people died and suffered, including European tourists.
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