Migrations Programme - [05/30/2008]

Spain still has much work to do with respect to the transposition of EU directives

The European Council of Tampere set the European legal framework in certain areas of policies on immigration and asylum, which means Member States are obliged to change their national laws to agree with the established EU model. In the opinion of Aurelia Álvarez, Permanent Lecturer in Private International Law at the University of León, Spain still has a long way to go before it can achieve an effective, complete transposition of EU directives regarding immigration and asylum. This was the main point made at the debate workshop, organised by the Migrations Programme on 29 May, on the transposition of EU directives on immigration and asylum.

Álvarez examined the most important European directives in this area, highlighting the extent to which they have affected the change in Spain’s domestic legislation. She made special mention of the subject of asylum and family reunification, pointing out that serious ambiguities exist in this area when it comes to Spanish laws fitting in with European regulations.

Meanwhile, Francina Esteve, Permanent Lecturer in Public International Law at the University of Girona, explored what is known as the "students' directive". Her address revealed that the Spanish State is failing to comply with the directive, both for normative reasons (the current regulations on immigration do not recognise a right to study), and for more practical reasons (requirements for students do not correspond with the directive). Esteve also spoke on the directive linked with the promotion of social equality, and in which case the inexistence of an organisation to fight discrimination has represented a letter of summons for the Commission to the Spanish Government. Finally, Mariona Illamola, Assistant Lecturer in Public International Law at the University of Girona, spoke on the innovative "researchers'” directive devised by the Commission to promote R&D in Europe, to help Spain to be able to compete better with the USA and Canada in attracting highly qualified researchers. Illamola claimed that the incomplete transposition of the directive shows Spain's non-compliance of the directive's objective to promote and boost research in the country.

In the subsequent debate, which featured participation from academic experts, practitioners and representatives from different administrations, the participants spoke of the need to enact a new law to restructure the current legislation on immigration, in order to remedy the existing errors in the transposition of directives, and to organised in a more coherent manner the different aspects that regulate immigrants' routes of access into Spain. Other aspects mentioned as requiring improvement were the belated transposition and the lack of publicity for the regulations - factors that influence the Commission's assessments on examining the incorporation of EU laws into the legislations of Member States.

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