European leaders to ask EU for easier expulsion

23/5/2025 6:19

Nine European countries,

led by Italy and Denmark, will on Thursday call on the European

Union to make it simpler for member states to expel foreign

criminals, according to a letter seen by Reuters.



European governments have expressed frustration with how

the European Court of Human Rights uses the European Convention

on Human Rights to block deportations and they want to see it

revised.



The letter, which was prepared ahead of a meeting on

Thursday between Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and

Denmark's Mette Frederiksen, urges the EU to review how courts

interpret the convention.



"We have seen cases concerning the expulsion of criminal

foreign nationals, where the interpretation of the Convention

has resulted in the protection of the wrong people and posed too

many limitations on the states' ability to decide whom to expel

from their territories," the letter said.



Member states should "have more room nationally to decide on

when to expel criminal foreign nationals," it said.



The letter was signed by the leaders of Denmark, Italy,

Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

and Poland.



Meloni and Frederiksen are scheduled to hold a joint press

conference in Rome on Thursday.



Meloni's conservative bloc won power in 2022, vowing to

crack down on migration. Denmark has introduced increasingly

harsh immigration policies over the past decade.