European court clarifies grounds for deportation of EU citizens

The Court of Justice of the European Union has clarified the grounds on which an EU citizen can be deported for committing a crime, even if they have lived for over ten years in the host Member State.

A host Member State can take a decision to deport an EU citizen who has acquired a right of permanent residence (after completing a continuous period of at least five years) only on serious grounds of public policy or public security. Where a Union citizen has resided in the host Member State for the previous ten years, an expulsion decision can be taken only on imperative grounds of public security.

The case concerned Mr I., an Italian national, who has lived in Germany since 1987. In 2006, he was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of seven years and six months for the sexual assault, sexual coercion and rape of a young girl, who was eight years old when the offences commenced. He has been in custody since 2006 and is due to complete his sentence in July 2013.

The German authorities determined that Mr I. had lost the right of entry and residence under German law, on grounds relating in particular to the serious nature of the offences committed and the risk of re-offending, and ordered him to leave Germany, failing which he would be deported to Italy. Mr I. brought an action against the expulsion decision.

The German court asked the Court of Justice for clarification on the grounds which may justify the expulsion of an EU citizen who has been resident in the host Member State for more than ten years.

In its judgment, the Court said that criminal offences covered by the concept of “particularly serious crime” referred to in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union may justify deporting an EU citizen, even if that person has lived for more than ten years in the host Member State.

However, the issue of such a deportation order is conditional on the requirement that the personal conduct of the individual concerned must represent a genuine, present threat affecting one of the fundamental interests of that State.