WRITTEN QUESTION No. 482/99 by Cristiana MUSCARDINI Deportation and residence of migrant workers
Date: 1999-03-05
Institutions: European Parliament, MUSCARDINI
Subjects: Germany, Italy, discrimination on the basis of nationality, free movement of workers, infringement of EU law, migrant worker, petition, public safety, removal, residence permit

29.11.1999

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 341/125

Bearing in mind that such discrimination is based solely on criteria laid down unilaterally by the national
authorities and could impede the free movement of migrant workers, could the Commission call for the law
concerned to be repealed or else interpreted and enforced in such a way as to ensure that, no matter what type
of residence permit they may hold, all migrant workers from EU countries, in other words European citizens,
are placed on the same judicial and criminal law footing as German nationals?

(1999/C 341/176)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0482/99

by Cristiana Muscardini (NI) to the Commission

(5 March 1999)

Subject: Deportation and residence of migrant workers

In contrast to the generous attitude of the Italian authorities when dealing with immigration, some European
countries that pay lip-service to human rights and the right of asylum are in fact toughening up their
immigration policies.

One example is Germany, where, according to reports from Italian emigrants’ associations, first and foremost
the Consul General’s office in Stuttgart and the local Tricolour Committee for Italians in the World (CTIM), the
national authorities are too frequently resorting to the drastic step of deporting workers from other Member
States who have committed minor offences, often inevitably stemming from the failure to bring about the
integration which all Member States profess to support.

Given that minor offences of this kind, though reprehensible, cannot be considered to constitute organised
crime, pose no material danger to the interests of host States, must be counted among the inescapable evils of
poverty, and should not, therefore, lead to outright deportation of the migrant workers involved, could the
Commission make representations to the judicial authorities in Baden-Württemberg and Hesse with a view to
upholding Community legislation on free movement of workers, respect for human rights, and the mobility
and equal treatment of migrant workers already provided for in the Union?

Joint answer
to Written Questions E-0481/99 and E-0482/99
given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(26 April 1999)

More than 60 petitions to Parliament have drawn the Commission’s attention to the deportation measures
passed by the authorities of the Land of Baden-Württemberg against Italian nationals on grounds of public
policy.

After examining the documents attached to these petitions, the Commission has decided to initiate
infringement proceedings against Germany. The proceedings will examine the conformity with Community
law (Council Directive 64/221/EEC of 25 February 1964 on the coordination of special measures concerning
the movement and residence of foreign nationals which are justified on grounds of public policy, public
security or public health (1)) of both the deportation measures themselves and the German legislation on
foreign nationals on which these measures are based.

The Parliament will be informed of the progress of the infringement proceedings in the communications
issued by the Commission in connection with the above-mentioned petitions.

(1) OJ L 56, 4.4.1964.