Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2016:697
Date: 2016-09-15
Language of the case: German
Subject matter: Association Agreement;External relations;Free movement of workers
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling;Reference for a preliminary ruling - decision unnecessary
Origin: Germany

Summary — Judgment of the Court (First Chamber), 21 December 2016 1. Questions referred for a preliminary ruling — Jurisdiction of the Court — Need to reformulate the questions (Art. 267 TFEU) 2. International agreements — EEC-Turkey Association Agreement — Association Council set up by the EEC-Turkey Association Agreement — Decision No 1/80 — Family reunification — Right of the family members of a Turkish worker duly registered as belonging to the labour force to work in that Member State and the corresponding right of residence — Conditions (Council Decision No 1/80 of the EEC-Turkey Association Agreement, Arts 6(1) and 7, first para.) 3. International agreements — EEC-Turkey Association Agreement — Association Council set up by the EEC-Turkey Association Agreement — Decision No 1/80 — Family reunification — Right of residence of the family members of a Turkish worker duly registered as belonging to the labour force of a Member State — Conditions — No need for the Turkish worker to be duly registered as belonging to the labour market during the first three years of residence of the family member) (Council Decision No 1/80 of the EEC-Turkey Association Agreement, Arts 6(1) and 7, first para.) 1. See the text of the decision. (see para. 51) 2. See the text of the decision. (see paras 55-62) 3. Article 7, first paragraph, first indent, of Decision No 1/80 of the EEC-Turkey Association must be interpreted as meaning that that provision confers a right of residence in the host Member State on a family member of a Turkish worker who has been authorised to enter that Member State for the purposes of family reunification, and who, from his entry into the territory of that Member State, has lived with that Turkish worker, even if the period of at least three years during which the latter is duly registered as belonging to the labour force does not immediately follow the arrival of the family member concerned in the host Member State, but is subsequent to it. The scheme of gradual acquisition of rights which is provided for in Article 7, first paragraph, of Decision No 1/80 pursues a dual objective. First, before the initial period of three years expires, that provision seeks to enable family members to be with a migrant worker, with a view to thus furthering, by means of family reunification, the employment and residence of the Turkish worker who is already legally integrated in the host Member State. Secondly, that provision seeks to deepen the lasting integration of the Turkish migrant worker’s family in the host Member State by granting to the family member concerned, after three years of legal residence, the possibility for him to gain access to the labour force. The fundamental objective thus pursued is that of consolidating the position of that family member, who is, at that stage, already legally integrated in the host Member State, by giving him the means to support himself in that State and therefore to establish a position which is independent of that of the migrant worker. In the light of the general objective pursued by Decision No 1/80, which is to improve, in the social field, the treatment accorded to Turkish workers and members of their families with a view to achieving gradually freedom of movement, the system put in place by, in particular, the first paragraph of Article 7 of that decision is thus intended to create conditions which will promote family reunification in the host Member State. An interpretation of Article 7, first paragraph, first indent, of Decision No 1/80 according to which, solely because the three-year period in which the reference Turkish worker worked in an employed capacity for an uninterrupted period was not immediately after the date of family reunification, a Turkish national cannot rely on the rights conferred by that provision, is excessively restrictive with regard to the objective it pursues. In those circumstances, it must be held that, for the purposes of acquiring a right to residence under Article 7, first paragraph, of Decision No 1/80, by a family member of the reference Turkish worker, the condition that the latter is duly registered in the labour force of that Member State must not necessarily be satisfied on the actual date of arrival of the family member concerned in the host Member State or during the three or five years immediately after that date. (see paras 68-70, 75, 76, operative part)