WRITTEN QUESTION E-3211/01 by Kathalijne Buitenweg (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. Residence permits for same-sex married couples.
Date: 2001-11-22
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European official, LGBTIQ persons, marriage, residence permit

4.7.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 160 E/73

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(25 January 2002)

The Commission thanks the Honourable Members for sending the environmental impact statement for the
project referred to.

On the basis of this impact statement the Commission has asked the Spanish authorities to check whether
the studies and recommendations mentioned in it have been implemented.

As regards whether in this case there has been a misapplication of Council Directive 90/313/EEC of 7 June
1990 on the freedom of access to information on the environment, the Commission would like to draw
the Honourable Member’s attention to the following.

In its answer to the Honourable Members’ written question E-2153/01 (1), the Commission said that solely
on the basis of the information reported in the written question it was unable to establish whether the
Spanish authorities had received a request for access to information to which they may have reacted in a
way that might have been in breach of the Directive. The Commission does not in fact know if a request
for information was sent, and if it was, what might have been its content, which authority might have
been the intended recipient and what reply, if any, might have been given.

Should the authority which received a request for access have refused it in breach of the Directive, it
would be for the person who made the request to seek a review as provided for both in Article 4 of the
Directive and in the Spanish legislation transposing it.

Lacking the information it would need to determine whether Directive 90/313/EEC has been disregarded,
the Commission did not think this question could be mentioned in the request for information which it
sent to the Spanish authorities subsequent to written question E-2153/01.

As regards the problems with plastics waste mentioned in the written questions, the Commission has asked
to be advised of the measures taken by the competent authorities, in order to satisfy itself that the washing
system is sufficient to reduce the quantities of dangerous residues present in the packaging to below the
thresholds laid down in the hazardous waste legislation and consequently sufficient to remove the harmful
characteristics of the packaging and guarantee that the plastics recovered (after washing) no longer
constitute hazardous waste.

(1) OJ C 81 E, 4.4.2002, p. 118.

(2002/C 160 E/082)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3211/01

by Kathalijne Buitenweg (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

Subject: Residence permits for same-sex married couples

(22 November 2001)

In your answer to my questionNoP-2438/01 (1) on the consequences of the introduction of same-sex
marriages in the Netherlands, you say that the Commission does not have the powers to compel a Member
State to recognise such marriages or to grant residence permits on the basis of such marriages. You take
the view that this reflects reality, irrespective of whether the couple come from a Member State or a third
country. I do not doubt that you do not have these powers. That was not my question. I only asked
whether you were satisfied that there would be no problems with residence permits.

In your answer you say that the Commission has given instructions that, if an official makes a same-sex
marriage under Dutch law, this marriage should be treated in the same way as any other marriage.

Can the Commission tell me whether any Member States have refused to grant a residence permit to the
spouse of an official of one of the institutions and, if so, in how many cases?

C 160 E/74

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

4.7.2002

If so, on what grounds was a residence permit refused?

If such a case has occurred, can the Commission tell me how it dealt with it?

If a legal spouse has not yet been refused a residence permit, can you tell me how you would act in
support of your officials if a residence permit were refused?

(1) OJ C 93 E, 18.4.2002, p. 131.

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(7 February 2002)

As the Honourable Member will understand, the nature of the response to her question P-2438/01 was in
part determined by the desire of the Commission to provide maximum detail.

In response to her current question:

> The Dutch law of 21 December 2000 recognising same-sex marriage entered into force on 1 April
2001. As a result, the Commission decided to put all officials on an equal footing by granting them
the same advantages, whether they are married under the above-mentioned law or under any other
national law relating to marriage.

> The granting of a residence permit is obviously a matter for the national authorities concerned.
However, the Commission can inform the Honourable Member that up to now, no case of refusal to
grant a residence permit to the spouse of a Commission official in any of the Member States has been
reported to its Administration. The national authorities of Belgium have informed the Commission
that residence permits would be issued as long as the marriage is officially recognised by the official’s
employer.

> However, bearing in mind the fact that the Dutch law recognising same-sex marriage was adopted
only recently, only three cases of marriage under this law have so far been registered by the
Commission. Furthermore, none of the spouses of the officials concerned is a national of a third
country.

> The Commission considers that the notion of ‘spouse’ in the Community instruments regarding the
right of residence extends, in principle, to spouses of the same sex when the national legislation of a
Member State permits marriage between two persons of the same sex and grants that marriage the
same legal effects as heterosexual marriages. Therefore, if a residence permit was to be refused to an
official’s legal spouse by a Member State’s national authority, in compliance with national law, the
Commission would raise the matter with those national authorities.

> The Honourable Member will have to address her question relating to the other Institutions to those

Institutions separately.

(2002/C 160 E/083)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3214/01

by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Council

(23 November 2001)

Subject: Meeting of 4 November 2001 in London

On 4 November 2001 a meeting was held, on the invitation of the British Prime Minister, bringing
together the French President, the Prime Ministers of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Ireland, the Belgian
Prime Minister and President-in-Office of the European Council, and the EU’s High Representative for the
CFSP. The declared aim of this meeting was to define the contribution of each of the Member States
terrorism, as now concretised in the war against
concerned to the US effort against

international