According to the abstract provided by the CJEU:
"Y is a Turkish national who has resided in Denmark since 1979. He has held a permanent residence permit in that Member State since 1985. X, his wife, entered Denmark in 2015 and, the same year, submitted an application for a residence permit there for the purpose of family reunification with her spouse.
The Udlændingestyrelsen (Immigration Office, Denmark) rejected that application on the ground that Y had not demonstrated that he had fulfilled the condition, laid down by the national legislation at issue in the main proceedings, of having successfully taken a Danish language test (1) and that there were no special reasons justifying a derogation in that regard. The Immigration Office added that that decision was not called into question by the standstill clauses set out in the Association Agreement between the European Economic Community and Turkey (2) and in the instruments relating thereto, (3) as interpreted in the case-law of the Court of Justice.
The administrative appeal lodged by X against the section of that decision which included an assessment in the light of the Association Agreement and the instruments relating thereto, inter alia, the standstill clauses, was dismissed. She then brought an action for annulment of the decision of the Udlændinge-og Integrationsministeriet (Ministry of Immigration and Integration, Denmark) confirming that the standstill clauses did not preclude the rejection of her application for family reunification under the relevant national law.
The case was referred back to the referring court, the Østre Landsret (High Court of Eastern Denmark, Denmark), which asks the Court whether national legislation introduced after the entry into force of Decision No 1/80 in the Member State concerned which, as a condition for the grant of a residence permit for the purpose of family reunification to the spouse of a Turkish national residing legally and working in the host Member State, requires that a test demonstrating a certain level of knowledge of the official language of that Member State be successfully taken by that national constitutes a ‘new restriction' within the meaning of the standstill clause in Article13 of Decision No 1/80, and, if so, whether such a restriction may be justified by the objective of ensuring the successful integration of that spouse.
The Court hereby rules that such national legislation constitutes a ‘new restriction' within the meaning of Article 13 of Decision No 1/80. Such a restriction cannot be justified by the objective of ensuring successful integration of the spouse of the worker concerned, since that legislation does not allow the competent authorities to take account of that spouse's own ability to integrate or of factors, other than successfully taking such a test demonstrating the effective integration of that worker in the Member State concerned and, therefore, his or her ability to help his or her spouse integrate into that Member State.
Findings of the Court
The Court notes that the standstill clause contained in Article 13 of Decision No 1/80 prohibits generally the introduction of any new national measure that has the object or effect of making the exercise by a Turkish national of the freedom of movement for workers on the territory of the Member State concerned subject to conditions that are more restrictive than those which applied to him or her at the time when that decision entered into force in the territory of that Member State. The national legislation at issue in the main proceedings, which makes family reunification between a Turkish worker residing legally in Denmark and his or her spouse subject to the condition that that worker has successfully taken a test demonstrating a certain level of knowledge of the official language of that Member State, was introduced after the date on which Decision No 1/80 entered into force in that country and brings about a tightening of the conditions for the exercise of the free movement for workers in the territory of that country. It therefore constitutes a ‘new restriction' within the meaning of Article 13 of that decision.
Furthermore, while that national legislation pursues an objective which is to ensure successful integration of the family member applying for a right of residence in the Member State concerned for the purpose of family reunification – an objective which may constitute an overriding reason in the public interest for the purposes of Decision No 1/80 – it does not in any way allow account to be taken of that family member's own ability to integrate or of factors which are capable of demonstrating the effective integration of the Turkish worker concerned by the application for family reunification. On the contrary, it is based exclusively on the premise that the successful integration of the family member concerned for the purpose of family reunification is not sufficiently guaranteed if the Turkish worker concerned by that application for family reunification does not satisfy the condition of having a successful knowledge of the official language of the Member State concerned.
The legislation concerned does not allow the national authorities to take account of factors such as the possible perfect command of Danish by the member of the family seeking family reunification or the effective integration of the Turkish worker concerned which would enable him or her, notwithstanding his or her failure to pass the test in question, to contribute, if necessary, to the integration of his or her family member in that Member State.
Therefore, the Court holds that national legislation such as that at issue in the main proceedings goes beyond what is necessary in order to attain the objective pursued."