The family in EU law after the SM ruling : variable geometry and conditional deference

SM (Court of Justice, judgment of 26 March 2019, case C-129/18 [GC]) revolved around the possibility of embracing a child in guardianship under the Algerian kafala system within the EU law notion of “family member”. In the ruling, the Court opened the door to a “variable geometry” notion of family. To this extended notion of family, it tendered enhanced protection through resort to fundamental rights law. And relatedly it recognized only conditional deference to host Member States with regard to the treatment of relevant family members in the context of their immigration rules. Rather than offering a detailed analysis of the case, this Insight focuses on these three aspects of the judgment as the starting point for a reflection on the evolving treatment of the “family” in EU law.