Abstract

The Court of Justice of the European Union has traditionally played an important role in ensuring the rights of legal third-country nationals in the European Union, enhancing the political goal of 'approximation' of their legal "status" to that of European citizens. This essay focuses on the judgment of 21 April 2016, in case C-558/14, "Mimoun Khachab v. Subdelegación del Gobierno en Álava", where the EU Court of Justice finds compatible with the directive on family reunification (2003/86/EC) the Spanish legislation, stating that a residence permit on grounds of reunification with non-EU family members must not be granted if it is determined beyond doubt that there is no likelihood of the sponsor's resources being retained in the year following the date of submission of the application for reunification; that likelihood is to be assessed by reference to the pattern of the sponsor's resources in the six months preceding the date of submission of the application. It highlights, on the one hand, the influences from the recent case-law of the Court in relation to economically inactive EU citizens and, on the other hand, the relative marginalization of fundamental rights, lacking a strong reference to respect for family life, protected by art. 8 ECHR and art. 7 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU.