Language of document :

Notice for the OJ

 

Action brought on 22 December 2003 by the European Parliament against the Council of the European Union.

(Case C-540/03)

An action against the Council of the European Union was brought before the Court of Justice of the European Communities on 22 December 2003 by the European Parliament, represented by H. Duintjer Tebbens and A. Caiola, acting as Agents, with an address for service in Luxembourg.

The European Parliament claims that the Court should:

Annul, pursuant to Article 230 EC, the last subparagraph of Article 4(1), Article 4(6) and Article 8 of Council Directive 2003/86/EC of 22 September 2003 on the right to family reunification;1

Order the defendant to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments:

This action for annulment is aimed at defending fundamental rights, especially the rights of minors, in the Community legal order. The Directive, whilst providing for valid rules for codifying the law governing family reunification for third-country nationals, nevertheless contains a number of provisions which are unacceptable having regard to fundamental rights, including the right to family life and the right not to be discriminated against, compliance with which must be ensured in the legal order of the European Union pursuant to Article 6 of the Treaty on European Union.

The right to family life as recognised by Article 8 of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and interpreted in the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights can be restricted only for certain reasons and each case calls for a balancing of the interests of the third-country nationals concerned and those of the host State. Derogations from the right to family reunification which are expressly authorised by the aforementioned provisions of the directive go beyond the permitted restrictions and violate the fundamental right to family life and the right not to be discriminated against as guaranteed by the ECHR and as they result from the constitutional traditions common to the Member States of the EU as general principles of Community law, as established by Article 6(2) of the Treaty on European Union.

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1 - OJ 2003 L 251, p. 12.