Official Journal of the European Union

C 237/27

(Case C-129/22)

(2022/C 237/35)

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: EF

Defendant: Stadt Offenbach am Main

Questions referred

1.Can a third-country national who has been granted long-term resident status under Directive 2003/109/EC (1) by a first Member State (in casu, Italy) require the second Member State (in casu, Germany) to renew a residence permit issued to him or her in implementation of Article 14 et seq. of Directive 2003/109/EC without providing evidence of the continuing existence of long-term resident status? If that question is answered in the negative:

2.Must long-term resident status be presumed to continue to exist in the second Member State for the sole reason that the third-country national holds a long-term resident’s EU residence permit issued by the first Member State for an unlimited period, even though he or she has not resided for six years in the territory of the Member State which granted him or her that status? If that question is answered in the negative:

3.Is the second Member State empowered, in the context of the renewal of the residence permit, to assess whether long-term resident status has been lost in accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 9(4) of Directive 2003/109/EC and to refuse renewal where appropriate, or is the first Member State competent to determine the subsequent loss of that status? If that question is answered in the affirmative:

4.In that case, does the examination of the ground for loss of status under the second subparagraph of Article 9(4) of Directive 2003/109/EC need to be transposed into national law in such a way that the constituent facts leading to loss of long-term resident status in the first Member State are specified, or is it sufficient for national law to provide, without referring specifically to the directive, that the second Member State may refuse the residence permit ‘if the foreign national loses his or her long-term resident status in another Member State of the European Union’?

Council Directive 2003/109/EC of 25 November 2003 concerning the status of third-country nationals who are long-term residents (OJ 2004 L 16, p. 44).