Brussels, 06/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission published a report on 28 September in which it was critical that the “long-term resident” status, for which migrants who have lived legally in an EU member state for five years, may apply, is not being sufficiently used. This status grants a set of equal rights with EU citizens in terms of social security, access to the jobs market, mobility within the EU, and also protection against expulsion.
The status, established by Directive 2003/109/EC, remains underused, reveals the report, which criticises the lack of information offered to those concerned and other obstacles related to poor implementation of the directive by the member states (too restrictive an interpretation of the scope of the text, additional conditions being imposed and “illegal” obstacles to mobility).
The status currently concerns half a million non-EU nationals in the 24 countries where the directive applies (Denmark, the United Kingdom and Ireland do not apply this directive), the Commission says. In 2009, around four fifths of these non-EU nationals with long-term resident (LTR) status were to be found in four member states: Estonia (187,400), Austria (166,600), the Czech Republic (49,200) and Italy (45,200). In France and Germany, only 2,000 third country nationals had acquired this status, the Commission reports.
The directive was amended in April 2011 to include a further category of persons eligible for this status: refugees and those receiving international protection. As the 28 September report did not take account of these changes, the next assessment could very well be different, the Commission says.
Before then, the Commission has called on member states to ensure that the directive is correctly transposed and also to launch campaigns to inform migrants of their rights. In addition, amendments to the directive might also be envisaged, such as, taking greater account of temporary stays in calculating the five-year period and facilitating access to the jobs market in member states other than the one in which LTR status was granted. Before any such moves are made, however, the way the amended directive is operating will be examined. (SP/transl.rt)