In April 2014 the Commission published long awaited Guidance for application of the Family Reunification Directive for Member States. The Guidelines are the result of a consultation procedure initiated by the Commission’s Green Paper on the Right to Family Reunion. As chair of the Migration sub-group of the European NGO Platform on Asylum and Migration (EPAM), MPG played an active role in this consultation procedure. EPAM’s NGOs worked together to present a strong unified message at the EC’s public hearing, a common statement signed by 75 EU and national NGOs, and a contribution to the EC’s preparation of the Guidelines. MPG also drafted four policy briefs to help policy makers and other stakeholders reply to the Green Paper. As a result, the EC’s guidelines have drawn heavily from NGOs’ contributions.
These guidelines can be used to ramp up enforcement through policy changes initiated by national governments, through infringement proceedings initiated by the EC, and through national court cases and requests for a preliminary reference to the ECJ. They mark a shift of focus in EU cooperation from law-making at EU level to proper implementation and monitoring at national level. Consequently, EPAM members have seized this opportunity to organise an NGO expert conference on 19 and 20 May 2014 to identify better ways for more systemic information gathering and advocacy cooperation among NGOs across the EU, which may lead to better enforcement of the right to family reunion for third country nationals.
