Brussels, 23/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - “The fight against crime in connection with dealing with narcotics as part of an organised group is capable of being covered by the concept of 'imperative grounds of public security' which may justify a measure expelling a Union citizen who has resided in the host member state for the preceding 10 years.”
That is the first part of the interpreting judgment on the directive on the free movement of citizens (Article 28 of Directive 2004/38/EC) delivered by the Court of Justice of the European Union in case C-145/09.
The Court gave that response to four questions referred for a preliminary ruling by the Administrative Court of the Land of Baden-Würtemberg, which was hearing the case of a Greek national, born and living in Germany for more than 10 years, who had been sentenced to be expelled by the court in Stuttgart following a severe criminal sentence for taking part in drugs trafficking as part of an organised gang. The plaintiff appealed and the expulsion order was revoked by the Administrative Court of the same Land, which decided it was disproportionate and took the view that the plaintiff had the right to stay in Germany through his links to the country and because he had lived there for more than 10 years (this 10-year stay is the deciding criterion for a permanent residence permit in the host country and enhanced protection against expulsion to be granted).
The German court, then, asked for interpretation of the above-mentioned Article 28, and in particular of the “imperative grounds of public security” which may justify expulsion. Should this concept be understood as referring only to considerations related to protection of the member state and its institutions, survival of its people or cohabitation between peoples, or - more generally - as covering also serious injury to any of the basic interests of society, such as the essential values of protection of its citizens? The Court took the view of the broader view, including drugs trafficking as part of an organised gang among the serious public order or public security reasons that may justify an expulsion decision.
As for the subsidiary question of the criteria that have to be taken into account when determining if the person had resided for 10 years without interruption in Germany, the Court said that “all the relevant factors must be taken into account in each individual case”, in particular the duration of each period of absence from the host member state, the cumulative duration and the frequency of and reasons for these absences, reasons which may establish whether those absences “involve the transfer to another state of the centre of the personal, family or occupational interests of the person concerned”. (F.G./transl.rt)