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The main article on migration policy in the February issue is the long-awaited ruling of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on the case of an elderly Chinese couple who applied for the right to be reunited with their son and daughter-in-law - an EU national - while on a visitor's visa in Sweden. The ruling partially clarifies the conditions to be fulfilled by third-country nationals wishing to enjoy the right of family reunion under EU law, in particular the notion of lawful residence as used in the ruling on the case of Akrich (C-109/01) handed down in September 2003.
Still on legal developments in EU law is an article concerning the right of residence and of employment of the children of Turkish migrant workers registered as belonging to the labour force in an EU Member State. There is an attempt by a few EU Member States to impose a restrictive interpretation of their rights, challenging the ECJ's own ruling in the case of Aydinli (C-393/03), handed down in July 2005, on the grounds that it implied placing the children of Turkish migrant workers in a better position than that of the children of EU workers. The article covers only the Opinion of an Advocate General since it will take more or less an additional six months for a ruling to be handed down.
Other articles on migration policy focus essentially on developments in labour market policies in several Member States, such as:
a new Bill in Belgium aimed at enabling posted workers to take their grievances concerning working conditions and wages to Belgian courts;
the introduction of a special residence and work permit scheme for highly skilled third-country workers in Ireland to meet manpower demands in spite of a large influx of workers from the EU accession States;
Franco-Dutch co-operation to combat social security fraud;
conditions of access to Luxembourg's labour market for Bulgarian and Romanian nationals;
the avalanche of visa applications by Moldovians wanting to travel to Romania and the opening of two additional, but temporary Romanian consulates;
clarifications on entry requirements for Bulgarians and Romanians want to travel to Spain;
chaotic consequences of the implementation of Russia's new Aliens Act;
the continuing debate in the UK on immigration figures with some institutes arguing that the Government's figures are largely under-estimated whereas others claim quite the contrary, particularly regarding the nationals of the EU accession States;
the UK Government's proposals to introduce new identity documents with fingerprint and photographic data for third-country nationals and the "automatic expulsion" of foreign criminals;
Irregular migration from sub-Saharan Africa to the Canary Islands continues to dominate the section concerning this issue. Articles dealing with this particular question include:
expulsion/repatriation practices;
statistics;
estimates on the number of deaths of irregular migrants at sea;
fashion designer under police investigation for using eight irregular sub-Saharan migrants as catwalk models;
Madrid's success in signing yet another new generation of readmission agreement, this time with Mali.
Among the other articles in this section is one focusing again on airline stowaways who face virtually certain death but are probably unaware of the real dangers. Yet another body has been found, this latest one at Brussels International Airport.
Also on Belgium is the Government's decision to commission a report on irregular migrants, to be carried out by the same expert who drew up a report on criminality among youths of immigrant origin that provoked much controversy seven years ago.
Other national news items include:
a major nationwide police operation in Italy that resulted in more than 2,000 people being charged with migrant trafficking;
Romania's difficulties in ensuring effective control of its eastern border;
results of an amnesty for irregular migrants in Kazakhstan;
concern expressed by the British Government that irregular migrants landing on Canary Islands may head for the UK.
A European Court of Human Rights' ruling with considerable repercussions for West European governments' plans to repatriate rejected Somali asylum-seekers features prominently in the section on asylum. It virtually rules out the forced repatriation of Somali minorities.
The part concerning Germany mostly deals with the fate of rejected asylum-seekers and how the new amnesty affects those having been present there for many years, including a few examples of cases of those who have sought church sanctuary and those who have been denied a residence permit because their repatriation was not possible on account of their lack of co-operation with the authorities. Also covered is the case of a family of Kurdish minority from Lebanon.
Other news items on protection include:
an evaluation of the new Aliens Act in Austria after one year of implementation: less asylum-seekers, less immigration and more expulsions;
determination of the Danish Government to expel rejected Iraqi asylum-seekers and its refusal to grant protection to Iraqis acting as interpreters for the Danish contingent in Iraq;
report on criminality among asylum-seekers in the Netherlands;
more developments concerning increasing number of Iraqis seeking asylum in Sweden;
UK's government decision to go ahead with plans to x-ray teeth and bones of undocumented asylum-seeking children to establish their age
more Algerian asylum-seekers accused of involvement in terrorism decide to return to their home country rather than remain in the UK under house arrest and very strict scrutiny;
UK government acknowledges that its past practice of detention of children when their real age was in doubt was unlawful.
Regarding racism and discrimination, the major development on the EU level concerns the intention of the German EU presidency to revive an anti-racism legislative proposal that has been pending for more than five years.
National news items include:
legal developments in the field of combating racism and discrimination in Belgium, including the abandoning of practical tests as a means of establishing proof in exchange for greater powers granted to courts;
the expulsion from the party of a French Socialist premier for criticising the inclusion of "too many black players" in the national football team;
major controversy in the UK and India over rather vulgar and insulting remarks made against an Indian actress in a reality TV show.
The on-going discussions and investigations into the unlawful abduction of foreign residents or EU nationals of immigrant origin by American CIA agents and sent to places of torture, allegedly with the knowledge and collusion of a number of EU Member States appear once again in the section on miscellaneous items. The European Parliament's report has been adopted at the Committee stage and is to go before the plenary on 14 February 2007.
Other items in this section include:
the decision by the European Court of Justice that its Court of First Instance must examine the complaint by the Kurdish Workers' Party against being labelled by the EU as a "terrorist organisation;
two rulings of the European Court of Human Rights, one criticising Greece for inflicting inhuman and degrading treatment on a Syrian national and the other, finding Austria guilty of violating the right to family life of a Turkish mother whose pleas to prevent her ex-husband from taking their child to Turkey were not examined until the son was effectively taken there and Austrian jurisdiction over him ceased;
the success of far-right members of the European Parliament to form a political group;
more on the Mohammed controversy affair in Denmark;
checks on migrant women in Denmark to verify whether they are really too ill to work;
Islamic headscarf issue in Germany, Italy and Sweden;
refusal of a Muslim police woman to shake hands with the head of the London Metropolitan police;
warning of youth riots in the Netherlands;
extradition of an Iraqi-born Dutch national to the USA on terrorism-related charges.
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