The EU NGO Platform on Asylum and Migration Policy (EPAM) have convened a closed NGO expert conference on 19-20 May in Brussels on the European Commission’s new interpretative guidelines on Directive 2003/86/EC on Family Reunion.
MPG and other active EPAM members on family reunion have organised this conference, with the cost of logistics covered by the European Progamme on Integration and Migration (EPIM), because of the unique opportunity presented by these new guidelines to ramp up enforcement at national level of the rights of reuniting families guaranteed under EU law. As the focus of EU cooperation shifts from law-making at EU level to proper implementation and monitoring at
national level, EPAM members are interested to identify better ways for more systemic information gathering and cooperation among NGOs across the EU, which may lead to many improvements to national family reunion policies. The specific aims of this conference are to identify three issues:
- specific national cases of non-compliance with the directive;
- the potential impact of the new guidelines on these issues;
- the most useful means for NGOs and legal practitioners to improve enforcement at national level through national policy change, EC infringement proceedings, and national/ECJ court cases.
