WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2672/97 by Leonie van BLADEL to the Council. Harm done to the citizen's confidence in the EU - follow-up to previous questions on Jolanda Bona
Date: 1997-09-01
Institutions: European Parliament, VAN BLADEL
Subjects: Netherlands, Surinam, civil rights, foreign national, migrant, nationality, passport, young person

25. 5. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 158/5

passport:  (cid:145)I  therefore  intend  to  delete  the  Netherlands  nationality  of  Jolanda  Letitia  Bona  from  our  personal
records  database  and  withdraw  the  Netherlands  passport(cid:146).  Does  the  Presidency  realize  that  for  Amsterdam
municipal executive to delete Jolanda Bona(cid:146)s Netherlands nationality from the personal records database and
withdraw  the  Netherlands  passport  issued  to  her  on  9  September  1996  is  unlawful  under  both  national  and
international  law  and  that  European  citizens(cid:146)  confidence  in  the  rule  of  law  and  due  legal  process  is  being
seriously damaged by the conduct of Amsterdam municipal executive?

2.
Does not the Presidency agree that, quite apart from the question of whether unilateral withdrawal of a
passport  and/or  deletion  of  nationality  from  the  personal  records  database  without  the  consent  of  the  person
concerned  may  have  been  legally  correct,  the  measures  adopted  by  Amsterdam  municipal  executive  were
unworthy of a European administrative body, even if mistakes had been made and needed to be rectified?

3.
Does not the Presidency agree that the conduct of Amsterdam municipal executive is not an acceptable way
of treating the interests and emotions of citizens › and in this case even of a 14-year-old child › in contemporary
Europe?

4. Will  the  Presidency,  on  the  basis  of  the  confidence  principle  which  European  citizens  may  expect  in  a
European state governed by the rule of law, consult with the parties concerned with the aim of reviewing the
decision of the Amsterdam authority which, curiously enough, was taken on the instructions of the Netherlands
State Secretary for Justice, and will it take into account the fact that the father and the two younger sisters of
Jolanda Bona are being permitted to retain their Netherlands nationality and the passports issued to them on
9  September  1996,  so  that  Jolanda  Bona  is  the  only  member  of  the  family  who  would  be  deported  from  the
Netherlands?

(98/C 158/07)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2672/97

by Leonie van Bladel (UPE) to the Council

(1 September 1997)

Subject: Harm done to the citizen(cid:146)s confidence in the EU › follow-up to previous questions on Jolanda Bona

1.
The Amsterdam municipal council has informed 14-year-old Jolanda Bona, who originates from Surinam,
that it will be depriving her of her Dutch citizenship and that she should surrender the Dutch passport issued to
her by the Mayor of Amsterdam on 6 September 1996.

Does the Council feel that we may treat the interests of a citizen, in this case a 14-year-old child, in this way in
present-day Europe?

2.
Jolanda Bona, who has spent the last few months alone, locked in her small room for fear of being picked
up by the aliens police, has been so traumatically damaged by the whole affair that her step-mother and her father
decided it was irresponsible to allow the situation to continue any longer. On 17 July 1997 Jolanda went with her
step-mother to the aliens police in Amsterdam to put an end to the uncertainty. With her parents(cid:146) approval, she
intended  to  surrender  her  Dutch  passport  and  recover  her  Surinamese  passport  so  that  she  might  return  to
Surinam. The aliens police told her this was impossible. According to them, she was now a Dutch citizen.

Does the Council not feel that this represents an abuse of the confidence which a citizen is entitled to have in a
European constitutional state?

Joint answer
to Written Questions E-2321/97 and E-2672/97

(20 January 1998)

Matters relating to the acquisition or loss of the nationality of a Member State of the European Union by any
individual  fall  exclusively  within  the  competence  of  the  Member  State  in  question.  There  are  no  legal
instruments of the Community or of the European Union concerning such matters.

The Council cannot therefore comment on the questions put by the Honourable Member.