Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 17 July 2014 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunale di Verona (Italy)) — Shamim Tahir v Ministero dell’Interno and Questura di Verona

(Case C-469/13) ¹

(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Area of freedom, security and justice — Directive 2003/109/EC — Articles 2, 4(1), 7(1) and 13 — ‘Long-term resident’s EU residence permit’ — Terms for conferring long-term resident status — Legal and continuous residence in the host Member State for five years prior to the submission of the permit application — Person with family connections to the long-term resident — More favourable national provisions — Effects)

Language of the case: Italian

Referring court

Tribunale di Verona

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Shamim Tahir

Defendants: Ministero dell’Interno and Questura di Verona

Operative part of the judgment

Articles 4(1) and 7(1) of Council Directive 2003/109/EC of 25 November 2003 concerning the status of third-country nationals who are long-term residents, as amended by Directive 2011/51/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2011, must be interpreted as meaning that family members, as defined in Article 2(e) of that directive, of a person who has already acquired long-term resident status may not be exempted from the condition laid down in Article 4(1) of that directive, under which, in order to obtain that status, a third-country national must have resided legally and continuously in the Member State concerned for five years immediately prior to the submission of the relevant application.

Article 13 of Directive 2003/109, as amended by Directive 2011/51, must be interpreted as not allowing a Member State to issue family members, as defined in Article 2(e) of that directive, with long-term residents’ EU residence permits on terms more favourable than those laid down by that directive.

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¹ OJ C 52, 22.2.2014.