Full Minutes of the Meetings

SESSION OF TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 2003

Family Reunification of Legal Immigrants

Karamanou (PSE). – Mr. President, I would first like to warmly congratulate the rapporteur for the excellent quality of her report, as the Commissioner previously acknowledged, and I would also like to express my satisfaction that the Greek Presidency succeeded, after lengthy consultations, in closing – not starting, but closing – this chapter on the family reunification of legal immigrants, which had been pending in the Council for several years. However, Commissioner, I believe that you should seriously consider the proposals made by the European Parliament.

As the Chair of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality of the Parliament, I consider this initiative on family reunification to be important because it will particularly help women and children who are often unable to join their spouses in their efforts to migrate to European Union countries, seeking a better future for themselves and their families.

I will tell you very specifically that three years ago I was invited to a general assembly of the Bangladeshi community in Athens. I entered a room of a thousand people with very few women. And when I expressed my curiosity as to why the women were not participating in the assembly, I realized for the first time the magnitude of the problem. They replied that our women and children are back in our countries because we do not have the right to bring them here.

I am therefore very pleased that, even with this decision of the Council, which does not fully satisfy Parliament, a serious decision has been made on this issue. Also, a particularly positive aspect of the directive is the establishment of the rights of family members who are being reunited, rights concerning education and employment, so as to ensure both their smooth integration into the society of the member state and the protection of their labor rights, so that they are not turned into cheap labor in the labor market.

Finally, I must emphasize that family reunification is not only part of the effort for a coherent immigration policy, but also a means of strengthening the very social policy of the Community.