Cross Border Couples

The Rt Hon Harriet Harman QC met Members of the European Parliament and European Commission (EC) in Brussels at the end of January 2007. She discussed with them the nearly one in five divorces in Europe which have a cross-border element. The EC has estimated that:

• there are around 875,000 divorces in the EU each year. 170,000, or 19%, have an international element; and
• there are 2.2 million marriages in the EU each year. Around 350,000 of these marriages are international.

Julia Bateman of the Law Society's Brussels Office reports on the visit in [2007] International Family Law, Issue 1.