Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2007:455
Date: 2007-07-18
Language of the case: English
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Association Agreement;External relations;Free movement of workers
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: United Kingdom

Summary of the Judgment International agreements – EEC-Turkey Association Agreement – Freedom of movement for persons – Workers – Right of Turkish nationals to an extension of their leave to remain (EEC-Turkey Association Council Decision No 1/80, Art. 6(1)) The fact that a Turkish national was granted leave to enter the territory of a Member State as an au pair or as a student cannot deprive him of the status of ‘worker’ and prevent him from being regarded as ‘duly registered as belonging to the labour force’ of that Member State within the meaning of Article 6(1) of Decision No 1/80 of the EEC-Turkey Association Council. Accordingly, that fact cannot prevent that national from being able to rely on that provision for the purposes of obtaining renewed permission to work and a corollary right of residence. In order to determine whether Turkish nationals meet the conditions laid down in Article 6(1) of the decision in question, no account is to be taken of the aim pursued in permitting the persons concerned to enter the Member State in question, since that article does not make recognition of the rights which it confers on Turkish workers subject to any condition connected with the reason for which the right to enter, work or reside was initially granted. If those Turkish nationals succeed, objectively, in fulfilling the conditions laid down in the three indents of Article 6(1) of Decision No 1/80, they cannot be deprived of the rights which that provision progressively grants them on the basis of the duration of their paid employment. In those circumstances, it cannot be accepted that a student or au pair could circumvent the legislation of the host Member State, in order progressively to obtain an unlimited right of access to the labour market of that State, since they are merely exercising a right expressly provided for in Decision No 1/80. It would only be otherwise if they had fraudulently obtained a right of entry into the territory of a Member State by falsely claiming that they intended to study or act as an au pair. On the contrary, provided that (i) the genuineness of their intention is confirmed by their actual pursuit of a course of studies or by acting as an au pair, (ii) they obtain work lawfully in the host Member State, and (iii) they satisfy the conditions laid down in Article 6(1) of the decision in question, the persons concerned can fully rely on the rights which that provision confers upon them. (see paras 40, 45-46, 49, operative part)