EU ministers now considering how to restrict free movement
Matthew Vella
Europe’s justice and home affairs ministers are considering whether to restrict the freedom of movement of citizens convicted of serious crime or for “repeated offences”.
Critics are saying the move is highly controversial because it could stop cross-border movements across the Schengen zone for people convicted of low-level offences, such as demonstrators.
Ministers discussing the law would deny entry to EU and non-EU citizens who “break the law in a sufficiently serious manner by committing serious and repeated offences.”
The right of free movement within the EU is one of its main principles on which it is based, and was a clarion call in membership drives across all new member states back in 2003.
The Council is now saying the right of free movement should carry with it responsibilities, “including respect for the rule of law” and that every effort should be made “against citizens who break the law in a sufficiently serious manner by committing serious and repeated offences.”
But the inclusion of ‘repeated offences’ is as yet undefined, and could mean a broad category of minor offences which could apply, for example, to protestors who take part in cross-border demonstrations.
The move by Europe’s ministers is based on a UK proposal to consider how “the cumulative damage caused by continuous low-level offending can amount to a sufficiently serious threat to public policy”.
A spokesperson for the justice ministry said Malta’s position on the UK proposal will be established once the proposal becomes clearer, “particularly when it comes to the definition of who would qualify for ‘breaking the law in a sufficiently serious manner by committing serious and repeated offences’.”
Communication with minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici’s UK counterpart will be taking place in the near future to clarify the proposal.
The EU right of free movement of persons also extends to citizens of Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein (the European Economic Area) and Switzerland. The same rights are accorded to family members of EU citizens regardless of the nationality of the family members.
But although European law provides for expulsion of individuals representing “a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat affecting one of the fundamental interests of society”, the free movement Directive also provides that “previous criminal convictions shall not in themselves” constitute grounds for expulsion.
Additionally, states cannot justify a denial of entry on reasons that are not related to the particular conviction itself.
The Council has asked the European Commission to publish guidelines for the interpretation of the law of freedom of movement, and said it will make a more extensive examination of the issue after the report has been submitted.
Any comments?
If you wish your comments to be published in our Letters pages please click button below. Please write a contact number and a postal address where you may be contacted.
Search:
MALTATODAY
BUSINESSTODAY
All the interviews from Reporter on MaltaToday's YouTube channel.
Oliver Friggieri may be an intellectual of yesteryear, but his contemporary writings still manage to influence the forma mentis of modern society. He discusses his recently published autobiography with DAVID DARMANIN>>
