Discuss the Ecj Judgment of 10 October 2013 in Case C-86/12 Alokpa and Moudoulou in the Light of the Case Law on Union Citizenship and on the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Discuss the ECJ judgment of 10 October 2013 in Case C-86/12 Alokpa and Moudoulou in the light of the case law on Union citizenship and on the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Introduction

This case concerns with the interpretation of Articles 20 and 21 of TFEU, as well as the Directive 2004/38/EC. In the following I’m going to summarize the facts of the case, giving the holdings of the court and reasoning of it, then proceed with legal analysis in my own opinion in the light of case law as well as the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Facts

Mrs Alokpa was a third country national (TCN) that has been living in Luxembourg along with her two sons for a certain period of time, who were both French nationals. The issue arises when Mrs Alokpa applied to the Luxembourg authorities for a residence permit in accordance with the Law on free movement. Her application was rejected on two bases, first, she does not satisfy the condition for the right of residence since it is only restricted to dependent relatives in the direct ascending line. Secondly, her children have also failed to satisfy the conditions lay out in Article 6(1) since they seemed to have insufficient resources. Moreover, Mrs Alokpa herself has also failed to satisfy the condition as she was unemployed at that moment and was only given a job-offer. Subsequently, Mrs Alokpa has then brought an appeal against the judgment before the referring court in which the essence of the question is basically whether a TCN in her situation may obtain a derived right of residence for the purposes of Article 20 and 21 TFEU, also whether a refusal would have the effect of depriving those children of their rights as European Union citizen.

Decision

The court decided that articles 20 and 21 TFEU must be interpreted as meaning that they do not preclude the Member State from refusing to grant a right of residence to a TCN, where she is the primary carer of her minor children, who are nationals of another Member State and...