Ergün Torun v Stadt Augsburg.
Date: 2006-02-16
17. In order to reply to that question, it must be noted from the outset that, within the scheme established by Decision No 1/80, Chapter II, Section 1 thereof, which includes inter alia Articles 6, 7 and 14 of that decision, specifically regulates the rights of Turkish nationals as regards employment in the host Member State. That decision draws a distinction between the situation of Turkish workers who have been legally employed in the Member State concerned for a specified period (Article 6) and that of members of the families of such workers in the territory of the host Member State (Article 7).
18. Within the latter category, Decision No 1/80 distinguishes further between members of a worker’s family who have been authorised to join him in the host Member State and who have been legally resident there for a specified period (the first paragraph of Article 7) and the children of such workers who have completed a course of vocational training in the Member State concerned (the second paragraph of Article 7) (see Case  C‑210/97 Akman  [1998] ECR I-7519, paragraph 21).
19. With regard more particularly to the second paragraph of Article 7 of Decision No 1/80, the provision with which the national court’s first question is concerned, it must first be noted that the Court has already held that, like Article 6(1) (see Case C-192/89 Sevince  [1990] ECR I-3461, paragraph 26) and the first paragraph of Article 7 (Case C-351/95 Kadiman  [1997] ECR I‑2133, paragraph 28), that provision has direct effect in the Member States, so that Turkish nationals fulfilling the conditions which it lays down may directly rely on the rights it confers on them (Case C‑355/93 Eroglu  [1994] ECR I-5113, paragraph 17, and Akman , paragraph 23).
20. Secondly, the rights granted by the second paragraph of Article 7 to the child of a Turkish worker with regard to employment in the Member State concerned necessarily imply the existence of a concomitant right of residence for that child, without which the right to have access to the employment market and actually to take up salaried employment would be rendered totally ineffective ( Eroglu , paragraphs 20 and 23, and Akman , paragraph 24).
21. Thirdly, as regards the first paragraph of Article 7 of Decision No 1/80, it is settled case-law that the rights accorded by that provision to the members of a Turkish worker’s family who satisfy the conditions set out in that paragraph cannot be restricted except in accordance with Article 14(1) of that decision, namely on grounds of public policy, public security or public health, or because of the fact that the party concerned has left the territory of the host Member State for a significant length of time without legitimate reason  (Case C-329/97 Ergat  [2000] ECR I-1487, paragraphs 45, 46 and 48; Case C‑467/02 Cetinkaya  [2004] ECR I-10895, paragraphs 36 and 38; and Case C‑373/03 Aydinli  [2005] ECR I-0000, paragraph 27).
22. Fourthly, the conditions set out in the first paragraph of Article 7 of Decision No 1/80 are stricter than those laid down in the second paragraph of that article, which are solely for the benefit of children of a Turkish worker who have completed a vocational training course in the host Member State ( Akman , paragraph 35).
23. It thus follows from Court’s case-law that the second paragraph of Article 7 of Decision 1/80 is a more favourable provision than the first and is intended to provide specific treatment for children, as opposed to other members of the family of a Turkish worker, with a view to facilitating their entry into the employment market following completion of a course of vocational training, the objective being the achievement by progressive stages of freedom of movement for workers, in accordance with the aims of that decision ( Akman , paragraph 38).
24. Therefore, the second paragraph of that Article 7 cannot be interpreted more restrictively than the first paragraph of that same article, and that is all the more reason why the rights conf erred by it on Turkish nationals who satisfy the conditions set out in that second paragraph cannot be restricted in situations other than those applicable in connection with the first paragraph of the same article.
25. As a result, there can be only two kinds of restrictions on the rights conferred by the second paragraph of Article 7 of Decision No 1/80: either the presence of a Turkish migrant worker in the host Member State constitutes, on account of his own conduct, a genuine and serious threat to public policy, public security or public health, in accordance with Article 14(1) of that decision, or the person concerned has left the territory of that State for a significant length of time without legitimate reason (see, by analogy, Cetinkaya , paragraph 36, and Aydinli , paragraph 27).
26. In those circumstances, contrary to what the German Government contends in its written observations, the rights conferred by the second paragraph of Article 7 of Decision No 1/80 cannot be limited in the same situations as those conferred by Article 6 thereof. Thus, the Turkish national accorded such rights can be deprived of them neither because he was unemployed on account of being condemned to a three year prison sentence nor because of the fact that he lost his entitlement to the right of residence, which is corollary to the right to employment acquired earlier under Article 6(1) of that decision (see, to that effect, Aydinli , paragraph 31).
27. Lastly, the second paragraph of Article 7 of Decision No 1/80 cannot be interpreted as applying solely to the position of a person under the age of majority, who is the child of a Turkish worker duly registered as belonging to the labour force of the host Member State, while excluding the child of such a worker who has reached the age of majority.
28. First of all, Article 7, in its second paragraph, does not make any distinction to that effect. Next, such an interpretation would render that paragraph to a large extent meaningless. Finally, the first paragraph of Article 7 of Decision No 1/80 also applies to the position of a person who has reached the age of majority who is the child of a Turkish worker duly registered as belonging to the labour force of the host Member State (see, to that effect, Cetinkaya , paragraph 34, and Aydinli , paragraphs 22 and 23) and, in the scheme established by Decision No 1/80, the second paragraph of the aforementioned Article 7 cannot be interpreted more restrictively than the first paragraph of that same article (see paragraphs 22 and 24 of this judgment).
29. In the light of the preceding considerations, the answer to the first question referred must be that the child, who has reached the age of majority, of a Turkish migrant worker who has been legally employed in a Member State for more than three years and who has successfully completed a vocational training course in that State and satisfies the conditions set out in the second paragraph of Article 7 of Decision No 1/80, does not lose the right of residence that is the corollary of the right to respond to any offer of employment conferred by that provision except in the circumstances laid down in Article 14(1) of that provision or when he leaves the territory of the host Member State for a significant length of time without legitimate reason.
Concerning the second question