WRITTEN QUESTION E-2400/01

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(20 August 2001)

Subject: Moroccan pressure to reduce to 15 the marriageable age for women possessing the nationality of an EU Member State

1. Is the Commission aware that Moroccan nationality law assumes that residents of EU Member States originating from Morocco who have obtained the nationality of the relevant Member State also retain Moroccan nationality in perpetuity along with their descendants?

2. Is it also aware that this nationality law means that such residents possessing the nationality of an EU Member State continue to be covered by Moroccan family law which does not recognise foreign procedures governing marriage and divorce?

3. Is it aware of Moroccan pressure on the Netherlands to apply to anyone also possessing Moroccan nationality Moroccan family law whereby men, like Dutch nationals, may marry from the age of 18 whilst women may marry from as early as 15?

4. Are there EU Member States that stipulate a different marriageable age for women than for men? If so, which Member States and what minimum ages are involved?

5. Have other Member States received a similar request from the Moroccan Government as that made to the Netherlands, in particular, Member States with many residents of Moroccan origin such as France, Belgium and Spain, and which Member States have acceded to this request or intend to do so?

6. Does it share my view that implementing this Moroccan demand opens the way to parents marrying off young girls, that it breaches international conventions on the protection of children and that, from the point of view of equality of opportunity and freedom of choice, it is undesirable to allow women to marry at too young an age or at a lower age than men?

7. Is it aware that, in response to pressure from women and human rights organisations, the Moroccan authorities presented an action plan in March 1999 incorporating the raising of the marriageable age for girls from 15 to 18 and that, for some months, a special committee has been looking into a possible revision of the law?

8. Is it prepared to promote a coordinated approach by the EU Member States in order to chart the adverse effects of Moroccan nationality and family law on people possessing the nationality of an EU Member State, having regard to equality of opportunity and self-determination for women and men, and to undertake a joint effort with a view to possible consultation by the Member States with the Moroccan Government?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(15 October 2001)

1., 2. and 3. The Commission was not aware of the situation regarding Moroccan/Member State dual nationality, nor of the fact that persons possessing such dual nationality came under the Moroccan family code, nor of Moroccan pressures on the Netherlands to reduce the marriageable age of girls resident there from 18 to 15.

4., 5. and 8. We advise the Honourable Member to direct these questions to the Council, since they are not within the Commission's competence.

6. The Commission believes that Morocco will take account of international conventions on the protection of children in framing policy on the status of women.

7. The Commission is fully aware of the Moroccan government's action plan for the integration of women into the country's development and the recent setting-up of an advisory commission to revise the code on women's individual rights. The Commission gave its support to the Moroccan government's efforts to improve the situation of women at the first meeting of the Association Council, which was held on 9 October 2000 in Luxembourg, and will do so again at the second Council meeting in October this year(1).

(1) The EU and Morocco signed an Association Agreement, which came into force in March 2000 (OJ L 70, 18.3.2000).