Welcome to the fifth issue of MPG's Family Reunion news service, covering developments since January 2014. This newsletter provides regular updates on policy developments, at European level and country by country. We'd like this service to reach as much people as possible, so we'd be grateful if you could share this issue with friends and colleagues and encourage them to
We'd also like this service to be interactive. So if you know of an EU or country development you think should be covered in a next issue, please
In 2011 the Commission launched a public consultation on how to improve the effectiveness of migrants' right to family reunification in the EU (
Green Paper). More than 120
replies were received from NGOs, Member States, local and regional administrations, international organisations, social partners and individuals. In 2012, the Commission organised a
public hearing which was attended by 230 representatives. As a result, today's guidelines take into account the views expressed by the stakeholders in the public consultation, together with case law of the Court of Justice of the EU on the family reunification and other EU Directives, as well as the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights…
Altogether they provide for a more transparent and clearer understanding of family reunification rules and common standards at EU level…
The right to family reunification must be genuinely applied according to the rules of the Directive. While Member States retain a certain margin of appreciation when applying some of the optional provisions of the Directive, the guidelines will ensure that such discretion does not undermine the individuals' rights. At the same time the right to family reunification is not unlimited and guidelines allow for possible fraud and abuse by applicants to be tackled effectively.
See the
press release 
