Evans, Robert (PSE). – Madam President, I welcome this report and want to pay tribute to the rapporteur, Mr Santini, because he has worked very hard on it. It has been a lengthy process and he has made a tremendous amount of progress. That we have arrived at this point does great credit to him and everybody else who has worked on this dossier.

He said it is a question of simplifying formalities. That in itself is something of a simplification, because it is a lot more than that and, as the Commissioner himself just said, it brings together a very complex network of existing measures. It is very important that what we are doing here is seen and publicised. Over the years the EU has been very good at creating free markets for goods and capital. We are now moving in the direction of creating a free market for people so that they can move around with their families and partners.

The remarks by Mr Oostlander give cause for some alarm, because if we go down the avenue of saying that there must be a clear concept of what a family is then we are undermining the whole process. Mr Oostlander spoke of the official registration of partnerships with the government. I think Mr Santini would agree that is a difficult and contentious area and one which, if reopened, will negate much of the valuable work that has been done.

This common position may not be ideal. There are areas where we on this side of the House would have liked more progress, be this the three-to-six-month timescale, the prevention of expulsions or the definition of humanitarian reasons, etc. There are aspects that are not perfect. However, if it is an improvement on what we have at the moment then we should support it. It is indeed an improvement, we will be voting for it and I commend it to the House.