EU crooks may be deported: minister
Expatica News
Monday 12 November 2007
The Netherlands is to investigate whether it can deport EU nationals who are convicted of serious crimes back to their country of origin.
But the Dutch approach will be very different to the controversial Italian plans, justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin said on Friday.
Hirsch Ballin said the Dutch approach would not be based on nationality but on 'looking at every case on the basis of the seriousness of the crime'.
Under European law, EU countries can expel citizens who pose a public threat or who don't have enough money to live on. However, deporting EU nationals is a sensitive issue because it conflicts with the right to freedom of movement.
The Italian decree allows for the speedy deportation of immigrants who are said to be threats to public safety but is seen widely as targeting Romanians.
DutchNews.nl