The European Parliament has reviewed 79 amendments to the draft resolution on the Stockholm programme, the Union’s road map for Justice and Home Affairs. The resolution was adopted on 25 November (see Europolitics3867).

MEPs approved Amendment 63, tabled by the EPP and S&D groups, inviting member states to “ensure the free movement of citizens of the Union and their family members, including spouses and partners who have contracted a registered partnership […] and avoid all forms of discrimination based on any grounds, including sexual orientation”. This issue had split the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee, where the EPP group abstained from the vote. Certain member states, like France, recognise the rights of same-sex couples but others de facto exclude them from the principle of mutual recognition.

The Parliament also substantially amended the initial draft resolution on asylum, urging the member states to guarantee the right to family reunification for immigrant children. It also asked the European Commission to “come forward with detailed proposals to combat abusive asylum applications effectively” and to step up efforts “to combat financial and economic crime,” including cyber crime. In a new paragraph on counter-terrorism measures, MEPs rejected the terms of an amendment tabled by Sophie in’t Veld (ALDE, Netherlands) aimed at encouraging member states not to focus “almost exclusively on Islamist terrorism”.