Family reunion

Support our work: become a Friend of Statewatch from as little as £1/€1 per month.

Proposal from Commission (COM (1999) 638, 1 Dec. 1999; OJ 2000 C 116 E/66); amended following EP vote (COM (2000) 624, 10 Oct 2000; OJ 2001 C 62 E/99); amended again in May 2002 (COM (2002) 225, 3 May 2002; OJ 2002 C 203 E/136)
Legal base Article 63(3)(a) EC
Background replaces part of proposed Convention on migration (OJ 1997 C 337); would replace 1993 ministers' resolution on family reunion
Flexibility UK and Ireland opted out; Denmark has automatic opt-out
EP committee draft conservative Klamt report on 1999 version amended by committee and renamed 'Watson report' July 2000 (A5-0201/00); Cerdeira Morterero report on 2002 version adopted on 19 Mar. 2003 (A5-0086/2003)
EP plenary vote with liberal amendments 6 Sep. 2000 (OJ 2001 C 135/174); vote on revised text 9 Apr. 2003
Economic and Social Committee vote in favour with modest amendments, 24/25 May 2000; vote on amended text 17/18 July 2002 (OJ 2002 C 241/108)
Council discussed at 2 Dec. 1999 and May 2000 JHA Councils; considerable opposition to key provisions; Council Strategic Committee decided that directive will only apply to some persons with over one-year residence permits; discussed at 28/29 May 2001 and 27/28 Sept JHA Councils without agreement; JHA Council of 16 Nov 2001 was due to examine issue again, but did not; European Council, 15/16 Dec. 2001 requested revised proposal by end April 2002; discussion resumed 8 July 2002 in working group; June 2002 Seville European Council set deadline to agree by June 2003; taken off agenda of JHA Council, 19 Dec. 2002; political agreement at JHA Council 27/28 Feb. 2003; adopted by Competitiveness Council, 22 Sep. 2003: Directive 2003/86
Deadline for application 3 Oct. 2005 (Art. 20)

 

Further reading

Our work is only possible with your support.
Become a Friend of Statewatch from as little as £1/€1 per month.

 Previous article

Social security

Next article 

Status of long-term residents

 

Spotted an error? If you've spotted a problem with this page, just click once to let us know.

Report error