new immigration bill in greece
peter | 24.03.2005 21:38 | Anti-racism | Migration | Repression
newspaper "Athens News" by Mrs. Tzilivakis
Provisions in Greece's new immigration bill may be out of step with a keyEuropean Union directive concerning the residence status of legal longterm immigrants
When will Greece open the gates to permanent residence for immigrants?
SOME of Europe's leading immigration law experts are questioning Greece's declared intention to effectively implement a European Council directive granting permanent residence to longterm legal immigrants.
Concern is mounting over proposed application requirements outlined in the government's new draft immigration law to be tabled in parliament by the end of this month. Critics are turning up the heat, warning that the conditions outlined in the bill are not in line with those set by the EU directive (2003/109/EC).
According to the EU directive
Based on the directive, member states "shall grant longterm resident status to third-country nationals who have resided legally and continuously within its territory for five years immediately prior to the submission of the relevant application". It also says the "status as longterm resident shall be permanent... The permit shall be valid at least for five years; it shall, upon application if required, be automatically renewable on expiry."
The European Commission considers five years of lawful residence to be sufficient time for immigrants to have put down roots in the member state. With this protected status in EU law, immigrants will be allowed to move, under certain conditions, from one member state to another. Their status will be comparable to that of citizens of the member states.
According to the Greek bill
Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos told the Athens News earlier this month that Greece will be ready to implement the directive "before the [January 23] deadline imposed on all the member states".
Pavlopoulos' predecessor, Costas Skandalidis, announced plans to implement the EU directive as early as December 2003. The draft version of the directive was approved during the Greek European presidency in June 2003. The presidency had said it "marks a decisive step towards the integration of legal immigrants into the societies of the European Union".
The new bill drafted by the interior ministry, however, effectively delays the issuing of this EU-wide permit for longterm residents until 2011, at the earliest. As reported by this newspaper last week, the draft law explicitly states immigrants will have to prove at least five years of legal and continuous residence beginning January 2006. This means that those who have already been living legally in Greece five years will still have to wait until 2011 before applying for the EU longterm resident status.
Some 80 percent of lawful immigrants in Greece have been living here for at least five years, according to new research commissioned by the government's Migration Policy Institute.
According to immigration experts
The Athens News asked immigration experts across Europe whether a member state (in this case Greece) has the right to require immigrants to prove five years of lawful residence from the date the EU directive is implemented. They roundly agreed this would not be in step with the intention of the European directive.
Achilleas Skordas, Athens University professor of international law, is one of the country's leading experts in European immigration policy. He told the Athens News it would be inappropriate for Greece to require all immigrants to prove the five-year qualification period as of January 2006.
"In my opinion, the five-year period is valid from the moment the directive is implemented, at which time people should have the right to apply for this longterm resident status," said Skordas. "This is based on Article 4 of the directive, which does not make any restriction. It says that the five years should be immediately prior to the submission of the application."
Skordas also pointed to Article 24 of the directive, which says that the European Commission will report to the European Parliament and to the council by January 2011 on the implementation of this directive in the member states. "This means that if the five-year qualification period were to begin from January 2006, the implementation would not be for another five years. If this is the case, how would the commission then report on the implementation of the directive if it has yet to be applied? Taking this into account, I believe it is clear that the five-year period applies before and after the date the directive comes into force."
Elspeth Guild, an internationally acknowledged expert in the field of European immigration law, agrees.
"We [lawyers] have had this discussion in a number of places. My view is that it is not consistent," said Guild, who is also professor of European migration law at the University of Nijmegen, Netherlands. "The five years applies from when the person fulfils the criteria. But I think that it is something that in the end will have to be clarified by the [European] court of justice... A delay was included in the so-called Dublin II regulation on which member states are responsible for asylum-seekers. So, that means if they [EU] did not put a delay in the directive for longterm resident status, they did not intend for a delay to apply. That's my view on it as a lawyer."
If the government does not revise its proposed legislation, Sergio Carrera said, the European Commission could take action against Greece. The researcher for the Centre for European Policy Studies - an independent policy think-tank in Brussels - said implementation must begin as of January 2006.
"After five years of legal residence in Greece, this person needs to get a longterm resident permit," he said. "If you look at the directive, the only possibility for the member states is to confer a wider scope of protection to the person involved... Greece needs to implement it by beginning 2006. From that time onwards, every non-national legally residing in Greece for a period of five years may get this permit if they fulfil all the conditions in the directive."
However, not all experts agree. Nicolas Rollason, a UK-based immigration advisor and rapporteur to the European Commission, said he cannot see anything wrong with how the Greek bill intends to implement the directive. He said other member states are likely to follow suit.
"The directive does not have retroactive effect," said Rollason. "It will have effect as of the day that it comes into force. The difficulty is that, if they do give it retroactive effect, they will have a whole lot of people who will benefit from these provisions and they won't know who they are exactly. I can't personally see any problem with that particular approach because what it seeks to do is to create a new right; it's not confirming an existing right. In this case it is a new right given to third-country nationals to move within the EU where they have built up these periods of residence to get permanent residence."
"I believe that it probably won't apply retrospectively and it won't suddenly give all these people who have been here long period of time the gold ticket to travel around," added Rollason "I am not exactly sure how each of the member states is planning to implement the directive, but I assume very strongly that in the council there would have been agreement to do this uniformly."
Meanwhile, the Greek National Committee on Human Rights (EEDA) is currently studying the draft immigration legislation. It plans to furnish policymakers with a lengthy review of the bill before it is tabled in parliament.
KATHY TZILIVAKIS
ATHENS NEWS , 18/03/2005,
SOME of Europe's leading immigration law experts are questioning Greece's declared intention to effectively implement a European Council directive granting permanent residence to longterm legal immigrants.
Concern is mounting over proposed application requirements outlined in the government's new draft immigration law to be tabled in parliament by the end of this month. Critics are turning up the heat, warning that the conditions outlined in the bill are not in line with those set by the EU directive (2003/109/EC).
According to the EU directive
Based on the directive, member states "shall grant longterm resident status to third-country nationals who have resided legally and continuously within its territory for five years immediately prior to the submission of the relevant application". It also says the "status as longterm resident shall be permanent... The permit shall be valid at least for five years; it shall, upon application if required, be automatically renewable on expiry."
The European Commission considers five years of lawful residence to be sufficient time for immigrants to have put down roots in the member state. With this protected status in EU law, immigrants will be allowed to move, under certain conditions, from one member state to another. Their status will be comparable to that of citizens of the member states.
According to the Greek bill
Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos told the Athens News earlier this month that Greece will be ready to implement the directive "before the [January 23] deadline imposed on all the member states".
Pavlopoulos' predecessor, Costas Skandalidis, announced plans to implement the EU directive as early as December 2003. The draft version of the directive was approved during the Greek European presidency in June 2003. The presidency had said it "marks a decisive step towards the integration of legal immigrants into the societies of the European Union".
The new bill drafted by the interior ministry, however, effectively delays the issuing of this EU-wide permit for longterm residents until 2011, at the earliest. As reported by this newspaper last week, the draft law explicitly states immigrants will have to prove at least five years of legal and continuous residence beginning January 2006. This means that those who have already been living legally in Greece five years will still have to wait until 2011 before applying for the EU longterm resident status.
Some 80 percent of lawful immigrants in Greece have been living here for at least five years, according to new research commissioned by the government's Migration Policy Institute.
According to immigration experts
The Athens News asked immigration experts across Europe whether a member state (in this case Greece) has the right to require immigrants to prove five years of lawful residence from the date the EU directive is implemented. They roundly agreed this would not be in step with the intention of the European directive.
Achilleas Skordas, Athens University professor of international law, is one of the country's leading experts in European immigration policy. He told the Athens News it would be inappropriate for Greece to require all immigrants to prove the five-year qualification period as of January 2006.
"In my opinion, the five-year period is valid from the moment the directive is implemented, at which time people should have the right to apply for this longterm resident status," said Skordas. "This is based on Article 4 of the directive, which does not make any restriction. It says that the five years should be immediately prior to the submission of the application."
Skordas also pointed to Article 24 of the directive, which says that the European Commission will report to the European Parliament and to the council by January 2011 on the implementation of this directive in the member states. "This means that if the five-year qualification period were to begin from January 2006, the implementation would not be for another five years. If this is the case, how would the commission then report on the implementation of the directive if it has yet to be applied? Taking this into account, I believe it is clear that the five-year period applies before and after the date the directive comes into force."
Elspeth Guild, an internationally acknowledged expert in the field of European immigration law, agrees.
"We [lawyers] have had this discussion in a number of places. My view is that it is not consistent," said Guild, who is also professor of European migration law at the University of Nijmegen, Netherlands. "The five years applies from when the person fulfils the criteria. But I think that it is something that in the end will have to be clarified by the [European] court of justice... A delay was included in the so-called Dublin II regulation on which member states are responsible for asylum-seekers. So, that means if they [EU] did not put a delay in the directive for longterm resident status, they did not intend for a delay to apply. That's my view on it as a lawyer."
If the government does not revise its proposed legislation, Sergio Carrera said, the European Commission could take action against Greece. The researcher for the Centre for European Policy Studies - an independent policy think-tank in Brussels - said implementation must begin as of January 2006.
"After five years of legal residence in Greece, this person needs to get a longterm resident permit," he said. "If you look at the directive, the only possibility for the member states is to confer a wider scope of protection to the person involved... Greece needs to implement it by beginning 2006. From that time onwards, every non-national legally residing in Greece for a period of five years may get this permit if they fulfil all the conditions in the directive."
However, not all experts agree. Nicolas Rollason, a UK-based immigration advisor and rapporteur to the European Commission, said he cannot see anything wrong with how the Greek bill intends to implement the directive. He said other member states are likely to follow suit.
"The directive does not have retroactive effect," said Rollason. "It will have effect as of the day that it comes into force. The difficulty is that, if they do give it retroactive effect, they will have a whole lot of people who will benefit from these provisions and they won't know who they are exactly. I can't personally see any problem with that particular approach because what it seeks to do is to create a new right; it's not confirming an existing right. In this case it is a new right given to third-country nationals to move within the EU where they have built up these periods of residence to get permanent residence."
"I believe that it probably won't apply retrospectively and it won't suddenly give all these people who have been here long period of time the gold ticket to travel around," added Rollason "I am not exactly sure how each of the member states is planning to implement the directive, but I assume very strongly that in the council there would have been agreement to do this uniformly."
Meanwhile, the Greek National Committee on Human Rights (EEDA) is currently studying the draft immigration legislation. It plans to furnish policymakers with a lengthy review of the bill before it is tabled in parliament.
KATHY TZILIVAKIS
ATHENS NEWS , 18/03/2005,
peter
