Can EU free movement rights be abused? Critical remarks on the “marriages of convenience clause"

The article (presented in a preliminary version during an international conference, following a competitive call for abstracts) deals with a little explored aspect of the EU regime of free circulation for EU nationals and their family members, namely the possibility for Member States to deny the exercise of such freedom to the married partner invoking the debatable doctrine of "marriages of convenience". After some preliminary remarks, the articles discusses the relevant legal framework and the critical issues raised by a Commission’s «Handbook on addressing the issue of alleged marriages of convenience between EU citizens and non-EU nationals in the context of EU law on free movement of EU citizens». In particular, the issues treated are: definitional aspects; scope of the Handbook and the question of the registered partnerships; the frequent transnational dimension of the phenomenon and the doubt about the chance to conduct a serious and balanced investigation; the dilemma about the recourse to (more) detailed provisions or to open and debatable clauses such as the one on marriages of convenience.