In a judgement delivered on Thursday 6 July, the Court of Justice of the European Union clarified the conditions authorising an EU Member State to revoke the refugee status granted to a third-country national when they pose a genuine and sufficiently serious threat to society.
Three questions were referred to the Court of Justice for preliminary rulings in disputes between third-country nationals and the Belgian State (Case C-8/22), the Austrian State (Case C-663/21) and the Dutch State (Case C-402/22). These people are challenging decisions to revoke or refuse them refugee status because they have been convicted of a crime described as “particularly serious” and have been deemed to be a threat to society, in accordance with the directive (2011/95) on the qualification and status of refugees in the EU.
C-8/22. In this case, the Court emphasises that a measure revoking refugee status must be subject to two distinct conditions, namely: (1) the existence of a final conviction for a particularly serious crime; (2) a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat posed by the person concerned to a fundamental interest of society in the Member State in which he or she is present.
Where both conditions are met, a Member State may revoke refugee status. If it takes such a decision, it must do so in accordance with the principle of proportionality, balancing the interests of the refugee against those of the host country.
C-663/21. With regard to this balancing exercise, the Court emphasises that the revocation of refugee status is subject to the competent authority establishing that the measure taken is proportionate to the threat posed to society by the third-country national. This authority, it adds, is not obliged to take into account the extent and nature of the measures to which this national would be exposed if returned to his or her country of origin.
C-402/22. Lastly, the Dutch Council of State is asking the Court to specify the criteria on the basis of which a crime can be considered ‘particularly serious’.
According to the Court, such a crime must be one of the most damaging to the legal order of the country. This degree of seriousness cannot be attained by a combination of separate offences, none of which constitutes a particularly serious crime.
The assessment of the degree of seriousness entails an assessment of all the circumstances specific to the case in question, such as: - the nature of the criminal procedure applied to punish this crime; - the nature and quantum of the penalty provided for and, a fortiori, the penalty imposed; - the nature of the crime committed; - any mitigating or aggravating circumstances; - the intentional or unintentional nature of the crime; - the nature and extent of the damage caused.
View the judgments in cases C-8/22: https://aeur.eu/f/7yg ; C-663/21: https://aeur.eu/f/7yh ; C-402/22: https://aeur.eu/f/7yi (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)