During the recent informal meeting of the Justice and Internal Affairs Council in Dresden, the Vice-President of the Commission and Commissioner for Justice, Franco Frattini confirmed the commitment of Brussels to collaborate with the German Presidency of the Union to achieve one of the fundamental points of the programme relating to a greater involvement of Europe in the questions linked to family law. According to the Commissioner, in fact, it is more than ever urgent “to guarantee legal certainty, access to justice and mutual recognition of the decisions adopted at the EU level” in this field. The Commission intends, not “to impose any harmonization of family law in Europe”, but to act in such a way that couples (between citizens of different countries and/or between fellow-nationals resident in a different state), formed also as a result of the free circulation of persons, be defended under the law, for example in terms of divorce, assignment of minors, and acts of succession. The Community Institutions will jointly organize by 2007 a pan-European seminar to reflect on the issue and lay the foundations for a concrete contribution to family law by the services of Brussels.
