The Slump and Immigration Policy in Europe

In recent years almost every country has revised its rules and regulations for family reunification. One  reason for the flurry of activity was the introduction in 2003 of the EU Directive on the Right  to Family Reunification. Although many of its provisions were not binding member states  often took the opportunity to introduce a package of reforms. Nevertheless policy still varies  widely across countries. Thus although countries such as Belgium, Spain and Sweden (as  well as accession countries) introduced reforms after 2008, for Europe and a whole, the  trend cannot be attributed solely to the slump. While some reforms were restrictive, many represented more liberal policy, especially in  new member states. According to the family reunification component of the MIPEX index  there was no decline in aggregate between 2007 and 2010. For the EU-15 the index  increased from 60 to 62 and for the EU-25 from 53 to 54. The policies that hit the headlines  were mainly restrictive, such as the pre-entry language tests and the raising or the  application of income thresholds for sponsors. It is worth noting that these have been  challenged, either in national courts, or in the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
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