WRITTEN QUESTION E-1468/97 by Cristiana Muscardini (NI) to the Commission (30 April 1997)

Subject: Discrimination between migrant workers in the field of public policy

According to the Italian Consulate in Stuttgart and migrant workers' social welfare organizations, the local authorities are making excessive use of expulsion procedures against workers from other Member States in matters relating to public policy.

Mr Goll, Baden Wurtemberg's Minister of Justice, and his deputy, Judge Knapp, have publicly stated that they have introduced a system of automatic expulsion of migrant workers, and foreigners in general, in order to penalize failure to integrate in Germany.

Although such arguments are open to debate with regard to the situation of foreign workers, they cannot possibly be applied to migrant workers who, by definition, do not seek the integration advocated by the national authorities.

The attitude of the German authorities should be seen in connection with the criterion for issuing residence permits, as laid down in the Aufenth/G/EWG, which distorts the actual aim of the Community legislation to serve other purposes.

Does the Commission agree that paragraph 12 of the Aufenth/G/EWG is incompatible with the Treaty because it introduces unjustified discrimination between migrant workers?

By virtue of the authorities' discretionary powers, workers from EU countries may be expelled on any grounds of public policy. However, should they obtain a residence permit for an unlimited period, the same EU workers may be expelled only on serious grounds of public policy. Does the Commission not consider it necessary to take steps to ensure that this legislation is interpreted and applied in such a way that all migrant workers from EU Member States, irrespective of whether they are granted a residence permit by the national authorities, are entitled to equal treatment in matters relating to public policy?

Joint answer to Written Questions E-1468/97 and E-1472/97 given by Mr Flynn on behalf of the Commission (26 June 1997)

Under Article 48(3) of the EC Treaty, workers' entitlement to freedom of movement is subject to limitation on grounds of public policy. The first paragraph of Article 3 of Directive 64/221/EEC ((OJ 56, 4.4.1964. )) states that measures taken on grounds of public policy or of public security shall be based exclusively on the personal conduct of the individual concerned. Article 2(2) of the same Directive stipulates that grounds of public policy may not be invoked to service economic ends. In its consistent case law, the Court of Justice has ruled that reliance by a national authority upon the concept of public policy presupposes the existence of a genuine and sufficiently serious threat affecting one of the fundamental interests of society. Although Community law does not impose upon the Member States a uniform scale of values as regards the assessment of conduct which may be considered contrary to public policy, conduct may not be considered as being of a sufficiently serious nature to justify restrictions on the admission to or residence within the territory of a Member State of a national of another Member State in a case where the former Member State does not adopt, with respect to the same conduct on the part of its own nationals, repressive measures or other genuine and effective measures intended to combat such conduct ((CoJEC, Judgment of 18 May 1982, Joined Cases 115 and 116/81, Adoui and Cornauille, ECR 1982, p.1665. )).

Certain problems linked to the application of the public policy reservation by the authorities of the Federal German Land of Baden-Württemberg, with regard to Community nationals, both workers and others, have been the subject of several petitions addressed to the Parliament. In this context, the Commission has contacted the German authorities in connection with the interpretation of the above-mentioned Treaty provisions and the application of national measures for implementing the said Directive.