Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1. International agreements – EEC-Turkey Association Agreement – Association Council set up by the EEC-Turkey Association Agreement – Decision No 1/80 – Family reunification

(Additional Protocol to the EEC-Turkey Association Agreement, Art. 59; Decision No 1/80 of the EEC-Turkey Association Council, Art. 7, first para.)

2. International agreements – EEC-Turkey Association Agreement – Association Council set up by the EEC-Turkey Association Agreement – Decision No 1/80– Family reunification

(Decision No 1/801/80 of the EEC-Turkey Association Council, Arts 7, first para., and (14)(1))

Summary

1. The first paragraph of Article 7 of Decision No 1/80 of the EEC-Turkey Association Council is to be interpreted as meaning that a Turkish national, who, as a member of the family of a Turkish worker who is duly registered as belonging to the labour force of a Member State and as a result of his residing with his spouse for a continuous period of at least five years, enjoys the rights relating to the legal status conferred on the basis of the second indent of that provision, does not lose those rights on account of his divorce, which took place after those rights were acquired.

Rights legally acquired by a Turkish national on the basis of the first paragraph of Article 7 of Decision No 1/80 exist regardless of the continuing existence of the conditions that were necessary in order to give rise to those rights, with the result that the family member who already has rights pursuant to that decision is in a position to consolidate gradually his position in the host Member State and to become permanently integrated in that State by leading a life independent of that of the person through whom he secured those rights.

Such an interpretation of the first paragraph of Article 7 is not incompatible with the requirements of Article 59 of the Additional Protocol to the EEC-Turkey Agreement, since the situation of a member of the family of a Turkish migrant worker cannot usefully be compared to that of a member of the family of a national of a Member State, having regard to the significant differences between their respective legal situations.

(see paras 40, 45-46, operative part 1)

2. It is not an abuse of rights for a Turkish national to rely on a right legally acquired pursuant to the first paragraph of Article 7 of Decision No 1/80 of the EEC-Turkey Association Council even though the person concerned, after acquiring that right through his former wife, committed a serious offence against her which gave rise to a criminal conviction.

By contrast, Article 14(1) of Decision No 1/80 does not preclude a measure ordering the expulsion of a Turkish national who has been convicted of criminal offences, provided that his personal conduct constitutes a present, genuine and sufficiently serious threat to a fundamental interest of society. It is for the competent national court to assess whether that is the case. The competent national court must also observe both the principle of proportionality and the fundamental rights of the person concerned. In particular, a measure ordering expulsion based on Article 14(1) of Decision No 1/80 may be taken only if the personal conduct of the person concerned indicates a specific risk of new and serious prejudice to the requirements of public policy.

(see paras 60-61, operative part 2)