Tink Posted March 11, 2004 Share Posted March 11, 2004 Residence rights of EU citizens strengthenedEUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The administrative hassle of moving within the EU will be reduced under a new law passed by the European Parliament on Wednesday (10 March).Under the new directive, which has to become national law in 2006, a person living in a member state other than their own for five years will have the automatic right to permanent residence. Similarly, EU citizens will no longer have to go through the drawn out bureaucracy of getting a residence permit when they move to a new state - so long as they have identity papers from their own authorities. "In the last four years the Union has achieved a great deal in the areas of security and justice. The new Directive will represent an essential step in ensuring that we can say the same with regard to our citizens' freedom", said justice and home affairs Commissioner Antonio Vitorino. The residency rights will also apply to partners but only if the member states where the couple want to move to recognises the partnership. This means that a non-EU citizen with a gay partner in Denmark could move to Belgium and have automatic residence rights - as marriage between gay couples is recognised in both countries. However, the same would not apply if the couple were to move to Spain or Greece where this is not the case. A Commission Official said that the Brussels executive will not be making member states change their national law in this area - the European Commission has no competence in family law. The new law, which has already been agreed by governments, could benefit the around five million EU citizens living in another member state.Written by Honor MahonyArticle published 11.03.2004 - 09:29 CETPrinted from EUobserver 11.03.2004http://euobs.com/index.phtml?print=true&sid=22&aid=14760 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceni Posted March 11, 2004 Share Posted March 11, 2004 Let's hope that someone tells the French bureaucrats.John not Dihttp://www.iceni-it.co.uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pip1 Posted March 11, 2004 Share Posted March 11, 2004 Some might say the European Commission has no competence in anything much at all.Pip (19)http://limousinleisure.mysite.freeserve.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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