28 Amendments of Laura FERRARA related to 2018/2856(RSP)
Amendment 3 #
Citation 12
— having regard to the more than 30very large number of petitions received on the role of the German Youth Welfare Office (Jugendamt) in cross-border family disputes,
Amendment 8 #
Recital A
A. whereas the Committee on Petitions has received a large number ofof the European Parliament has been receiving, since more than 10 years ago, petitions oin the role of the German Youth Welfare Office (Jugendamt) denouncing alleged systematic discrimination of non-German parents in cross-border dispuwhich a very large amount of non-German parents denounce systematic discriminations and arbitrary measures taken against them by the German Youth Welfare Office (Jugendamt) in family disputes with cross-border implications involving children, on matters con cerning, inter alia, parental responsibility and child custody;
Amendment 10 #
Recital A a (new)
A a. whereas the Jugendamt plays a central role in the German family law system as it is one of the parties in all family disputes involving children;
Amendment 11 #
Recital A b (new)
A b. whereas in family disputes involving children the Jugendamt delivers a recommendation to the judges, whose nature is practically binding, and can adopt temporary measures, such as the ‘Beistandschaft’, which cannot be challenged;
Amendment 12 #
Recital A c (new)
A c. whereas the Jugendamt is responsible for the implementation of the decisions taken by the German courts; whereas the broad interpretation of these decisions by the Jugendamt often resulted detrimental to the effective protection of the rights of non-German parents;
Amendment 13 #
Recital A d (new)
A d. whereas the German family law system, and in particular the role of the Jugendamt, must be carefully assessed taking duly into account its unique legal, administrative and cultural background in order to put forward effective solutions to all issues experienced by non-German parents in family disputes having cross- border implications involving children;
Amendment 14 #
Recital A e (new)
A e. whereas non-recognition and non- enforcement by German competent authorities of decisions and judgements taken by other EU Member States’ judicial authorities, in family disputes having cross-border implications, can represent a breach of the principle of mutual recognition and mutual trust amongst Member States, thus jeopardising the effective protection of the best interest of the child;
Amendment 15 #
Recital A f (new)
A f. whereas petitioners denounced that in family disputes having cross- border implications the protection of the best interest of the child is systematically interpreted by the competent German authorities with the need to ensure that children remain in the German territory, even in cases where abuses and domestic violence against the non-German parent were reported;
Amendment 16 #
Recital A g (new)
A g. whereas the procedures adopted by the Jugendamt officials in cases of supervised parental access implied for the non-German parents the prohibition of the use of their mother tongue in their communication with their children; whereas conversations between non- German parents and their children held in a language, other than German, were harshly interrupted by the Jugendamt officials and contacts between parents and children were banned;
Amendment 17 #
Recital A h (new)
A h. whereas non-German parents denounced in their petitions the insufficient or lack of counselling and legal support by national authorities of their country of origin in cases where discriminatory or disadvantaged judicial and administrative procedures were adopted against them by German authorities, including the Jugendamt, in family disputes involving children;
Amendment 18 #
Recital B
B. whereas all the EU institutions and all EU countries must fully guarantee the protection of the rights of the child as enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU; whereas the best interest of the child is a fundamental principle that should be respected as guiding rule for all decisions related to childcare issues at all levels;
Amendment 20 #
Recital C
C. whereas increased mobility within the EU has led to a growing number of cross-border disputes on parental responsibility and child custody; whereas the Commission must step up its efforts to promote in all Member States, including Germany, the consistent and concrete implementation of the principles set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by all EU countries;
Amendment 21 #
Recital D
D. whereas scope and objectives of the Brussels IIa Regulation are based on the principle of non-discrimination on the grounds of nationality between citizens of the Union and on the principle of mutual trust between the Member States’ legal systems;
Amendment 24 #
Recital E a (new)
Amendment 25 #
Recital E b (new)
E b. whereas the German Federal Constitutional Court ruled that a court can ask to hear a child who is almost 3 years old at the time of the decision; whereas in other EU countries children of this age are considered too young and not mature enough to be consulted in disputes involving their parents;
Amendment 27 #
Paragraph 1
1. Notes with great concern that the Committee on Petitions problems concerning the last decade has received more than 30 petitions on parental responsibility or child custody in cross-border family disputes and the role of the German Youth Welfare Office (Jugendamt), many of them involving the alleged discrimination of the non-German parentGerman family law system, including the controversial role of the German Youth Welfare Office (Jugendamt), denounced through petitions by non-German parents continue to remain unsolved; underlines that the Committee on Petitions continuously receives petitions by non-German parents in which serious discriminations are reported as a result of the procedures and practices concretely adopted by the competent German authorities in cross- border family disputes involving children;
Amendment 33 #
Paragraph 2
2. Points to the long standing work of the Committee on Petitions treatingon the treatment of petitions concerning the role of the German Youth Welfare Office (Jugendamt); acknowledges the detailedtakes note of the responses given by the competent German ministry on the functioning of the German family law system but underlines that the Committee on Petitions continuously receives petitions concerning alleged discrimination of the non-German parentstrongly regrets that German competent authorities failed to ensure a proper follow-up to the recommendations and requests by the Committee on Petitions, thus worsening all problems encountered by non-German parents in the framework of family disputes having cross-border implications;
Amendment 35 #
Paragraph 3
3. Stresses the obligation, as provided in the Council Regulation Brussels IIa, for national authorities to recognise and enforce judgements delivered in another Member State in child related cases; is concerned of the fact that in family disputes having cross-border implications German authorities can systematically refuse to recognise judicial decisions taken in other Member States in cases where children, who are almost 3 years old, have not been heard; underlines that this aspect undermines the principle of mutual trust with other Member States whose legal systems set different age limits for the hearing of a child;
Amendment 36 #
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Regrets that the Commission did not implement for years accurate checks on the procedures and practices used in the German family law system, including the Jugendamt, in the framework of family disputes having cross-border implications, thus failing to effectively protect the best interest of the child and all other related rights;
Amendment 39 #
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Amendment 41 #
Paragraph 3 c (new)
3 c. Strongly criticises the absence of statistical data on the number of cases in Germany in which court rulings were not in line with the recommendations of the Jugendamt and on the outcomes of family disputes involving children of bi-national couples, despite the repeated requests for years to collect data and make them publicly available;
Amendment 43 #
Paragraph 3 d (new)
3 d. Condemns the fact that, in cases of supervised parental access, failure by non-German parents to comply with the Jugendamt officials procedure to adopt German as language during conversations with their children, led to the harsh interruption of conversations and to a ban on contact between the non- German parents and their children; believes that such procedure adopted by the Jugendamt officials constituted a clear discrimination based on origin and language against non-German parents;
Amendment 44 #
Paragraph 3 e (new)
3 e. Is firmly convinced that in cases of supervised parental access, German authorities must permit all parental languages during conversations between parents and their children; asks for mechanisms to be put in place to guarantee that non-German parents and their children can have communication in their common language as its use plays a crucial role to keep strong emotional bonds between parents and their children and ensure the effective protection of children’s cultural heritage and welfare;
Amendment 45 #
Paragraph 3 f (new)
3 f. Firmly believes that a consistent and effective follow-up must be given to the recommendations of the final report of the Committee on Petitions’ Working Group on “Child welfare issues” of 3 May 2017 and notably on those related directly or indirectly to the role of the Jugendamt and to the German family law system;
Amendment 46 #
Paragraph 3 g (new)
3 g. Reminds Germany of its international obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, including Article 8 thereof; believes that major improvements must be made by all German competent authorities to adequately safeguard the right of the children of bi-national couples to preserve his or her identity, including family relations, as recognised by law without unlawful interference;
Amendment 54 #
Paragraph 7
7. Calls on the CouncilStresses the need to improve themutual judicial and administrative cooperation and cross-border dialogues between German authorities like the German Youth Welfare Office (Jugendamt) and authorities of other Member Statbetween German authorities and other EU Member States authorities in order to ensure mutual trust in matters concerning the recognition and enforcement in Germany of decisions and judgements adopted by other EU Member States’' authorities in family disputes withhaving cross-border elements involving children;
Amendment 55 #
Paragraph 8
8. Recalls the importance to provide parentswithout delay non-German parents from the outset and at every stage of child- related proceedings with complete and clear information on the proceedings and on the possible consequences thereof; calls on the Member States to inform parents about the rules on legal support and aid; notes in this context that the competent German ministries at federal level have established the German Central Contact Point for Cross-border Family Conflicts in order to provide counselling and information, in a language that the concerned parents fully understand in order to avoid cases where parents give their consent without fully understanding the implications of their commitments; calls on the Member States to implement targeted measures aimed at improving legal support, aid, counselling and information for their nationals in cases where they denounce discriminatory or disadvantaged judicial and administrative procedures adopted against them by German authorities in cross- border family disputes involving parental responsibilitychildren;
Amendment 58 #
Paragraph 9
9. Expresses its concern on cases raised by petitioners about short deadlines set by the German competent authorities and about documents sent by the German competent authorities not provided in the language of the non-German petitioner; stresses the right of citizens to refuse acceptances of documents if not written or translated into a language the person understands as laid down in Article 8(1) of Regulation (EC) 1393/2007; calls on the Commission to thoroughly assess the implementation in Germany of the provisions of Regulation (EC) 1393/2007 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters (service of documents) in order to properly address all possible violations;