Brussels, 08/11/2007 (Agence Europe) - The Greens/EFA group a the European Parliament on Wednesday 7 November called on the European Commission to clarify EU legislation on limits to free movement of citizens. In a press release Monica Frassoni from Italy declared, “the European Commission should provide clarity and not ambiguity about how European law ought to be applied. Recent declarations by the Commission for Justice, Franco Frattini, on the application of the directive on free movement are misleading and have only helped to exacerbate and confuse the debate in Italy”. According to a communiqué from the group, the Commissioner is reported to have suggested that the directive will authorize expulsions on the basis of financial resources and that France, Germany and the United Kingdom would apply this rule. This demand from the Greens is part of the debate on the imposition in Italy of restrictions on the free movement of EU citizens. On Thursday morning the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament accepted the joint demand from the Greens and United European Left (GUE/NGL) to add a declaration to the agenda of the next Strasbourg session (12-15 November) with a resolution from Commissioner Frattini on the application of directive 2004/38/EC on the right of Union citizens to freely move and reside in the territory of Member States. Last week Rome adopted a decree authorizing the expulsion of foreigners deemed dangerous. The expulsions of numerous Romanians with criminal records has now begun. On Wednesday the European Commission received notification of the Italian decree. Commission legal services will now analyse the document to see if it reflects the spirit of the directive. Friso Roscam Abbing, the spokesman for Franco Frattin, indicated at the beginning of the week that the expulsions of nationals from Member States could only be done on an individual basis, should be subject to appeal and that collective expulsions were in fact “illegal”.
On Wednesday the president of the Italian government, Romano Prodi, and his Romanian counterpart, Calin Tariceanu, agreed to cooperate to prevent crimes committed by Romanian immigrants (of Rom origin) living in Italy. Both of them decided to send a joint letter to the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, highlighting the problems of the Rom minority. At the end of the meeting with Romano Prodi in Rome, Mr Tariceanu explained that the question involving the Rom should be a European Union concern, adding that the European Commission should take this issue into account in the elaboration of European level policies, particularly in the area of education. (B.C.)