JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS : SPAIN TO REKINDLE WORK ON CROSSBORDER DIVORCE.

In limbo for months due to Sweden's veto, work to facilitate crossborder divorces in Europe is expected to be relaunched by the Spanish EU Presidency. The European Commission has therefore been asked to present a proposal for "enhanced cooperation", since family law is one of the few areas of justice on which unanimity is still the rule, following entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon.

Madrid has made it clear for quite some time that its objective in the field of justice is to take initiatives to combat violence against women, a serious problem in Spain. The debate on divorce is therefore expected to come back to the fore in the first half of 2010. For the last six months, the Swedes have done nothing to take forward the enhanced cooperation procedure requested of the Commission a year ago by ten member states(1). Sweden prefers to keep its own divorce laws, which it considers more protective, and consequently vetoed the Commission's proposal for harmonisation.

Since its proposal was rejected, the Commission has not been too keen on presenting a proposal...