Abstract The tension between the right to family reunification as laid down in European Directives and Member States’ concern to protect their sovereignty in regulating migration has resulted in growing attention to and concern about fraudulent family relationships (especially marriages of convenience). This contribution addresses the question of what forms of control are permissible from a European law perspective and whether national practices are in conformity with European law and fundamental rights. Looking at these national practices several problems are identified: definitions of ‘marriages of convenience’ extending beyond what European law allows; systematic checks of certain nationalities/ethnic groups, mixed couples and/or gender may amount to discrimination and the burden of proof seems to be shifting to couples. Comparing control practices for marriages of convenience with those of homosexual asylum seekers, it is argued that human dignity is at stake.
Despite not being a federation Spain is deeply decentralized country. The present-day system of political and territorial organization was outlined during the process of transition to democracy, which took place between 1975 and 1982. The so-called State of Autonomies was based on consensus and will to find a general agreement among the main political actors. Hence, to some extent, it has an ambivalent nature and nowadays is short of full acceptance and finality. This fact alongside the age- old heterogeneity of Spanish population results in a cleavage mirrored in the different views on desirable power and territorial configuration of the country. Today, Spain is divided into seventeen autonomous communities. These units are endowed with both executive and legislative functions and they constitute distinctive political arenas. In some of them the political competition resembles that of the national level. Nevertheless, in the majority of the communities the regional political parties have got an important, sometimes even pivotal role. Right these actors of regional politics are in the focus of this research. In its scope we defined two aims. Firstly, we want to find out what attitudes the regional political parties take towards the autonomous state and its nature, and, respectively, if and to what...
Abstract Social services in the Netherlands have traditionally been delivered by non-state agencies, in a climate of support for ‘private initiative’ and resistance to direct intervention by government. These agencies have, however, become almost totally dependent upon government finance, while operating virtually autonomously in a non-politicised sphere where services have become increasingly sophisticated and expensive. The power exercised over public resources and public services by these ‘private’ agencies, particularly at national level, and the lack of control over the welfare sector by government, has been the subject of growing criticism in recent years. The dysfunctions of a ‘voluntary’ system of social services have also become glaringly evident. This article traces the development of a relationship between state and ‘private enterprise’ in the social services which has developed from a strictly ‘separatist’ model to one where a high degree of inter-penetration has been reached. It also examines current efforts to extend this second ‘incorporated’ model of statutory-voluntary relationships by placing social welfare services under a greater measure of public control within a decentralized system of local political responsibility.