160 R. Ziegler such, they will benefit from the LTR Directive32 (as amended33 in 2011 to extend its scope to beneficiaries of international protection) and from the Right to Family Unification Directive34. Both Directives apply in all EU-27 Member States except Ireland (where UK citizens have a free-standing right to reside that preceded Union membership) and Denmark. Pertinently for this debate, after five years of continuous residence (Article 4 LTRD) and subject to satisfying additional criteria, LTRs acquire the right to reside in the territory of Member States other than the one which granted them the long-term residence status (Article 14(1) LTRD); following the acquisition of LTR status, they enjoy substantive entitlements under EU law wherever the reside in the Union, including equality of treatment with Union citizens in a wide range of economic and social matters (Article 11 LTRD) and enhanced protection against expulsion (Article 12 LTRD). A fairly modest legislative change to the LTRD that would mitigate the predicament of UK citizens could be the granting of LTR status to mobile UK citizens, irrespective of whether they have met the continuous residence and/or other LTRD requirements. One of the substantive differences between mobile EU citizens and TCNs concerns political participation. TCNs are not entitled to participate in the ‘democratic life of the Union’; nor are Member States required to enfranchise them in local elections. However, nothing prevents Member States from so doing: indeed, the (limited35) number of signatories to the Council of Europe Convention on the Participation of Foreigners in Public Life at Local Level36 are committed to residence-based enfranchisement on the local level and among the EU-27, eleven states permit TCNs to vote in local 32 33 34 35 36 Council Directive 2003/109/EC of 25 November 2003 concerning the status of third-country nationals who are long-term residents, available at http://eur-lex. europa.eu/legal-content/en/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32003L0109. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:132:0001:0 004:EN:PDF Council Directive 2003/86/EC of 22 September 2003 on the right to family reunification, available at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do? uri=OJ:L:2003:251:0012:0018:en:PDF. Chart of signatures and ratifications of Treaty 144, available at https://www. coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/treaty/144/signatures? p_auth=0ZKv2OhD. Convention on the Participation of Foreigners in Public Life at Local Level, available at https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/ rms/090000168007bd26.