Draft EU rules on expulsion omit radicals issue

The European Commission will this week propose new rules for sending failed asylum seekers and illegal migrants back to their home countries in a bid to close loopholes in national asylum and immigration laws.

But after lengthy consideration of whether to add measures on expelling people who pose a security threat, such as suspected terrorists and political or religious radicals, the European Union executive decided existing rules were sufficient.

EU members such as Britain and France are taking an increasing hard line on foreign nationals who encourage or condone terrorism following the July 7 London bomb attacks in which four suicide bombers killed 52 people.

Europe is grappling with ways to deal with militancy among young Muslims of immigrant origin. London and Paris are moving to expel radical preachers while the Commission is leaning towards a more cautious policy promoting dialogue, education and social inclusion to counter radicalisation.

The Commission said expulsions for security reasons were already permitted by "public order" clauses in existing EU law which allow member states to remove foreign nationals considered a security threat.

"It appears that a scrupulous application of these clauses is a more appropriate way of enhancing security," said the draft memorandum to be presented by EU Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini tomorrow.

Another argument for not including mandatory expulsions for security reasons in the new EU rules was that in some cases there could be a national interest in keeping terror suspects in custody inside European countries, the document said.

"It may not always be in the interest of the state to expel a suspected terrorist. It may sometimes be preferable to bring criminal charges against such person or to keep him under surveillance in a member state," it said.

But the rules do introduce the possibility for individual member states to ban people, deported for security reasons, from re-entering any of the 25 EU states. Under the proposed rules, migrants who face expulsion from EU states would have up to four weeks to leave voluntarily after their asylum claims were dismissed or they were caught living illegally inside the bloc.

The rules, which require unanimous approval by the EU's members, set time limits for keeping people in custody before they are expelled as well as a ban on re-entering the bloc for up to five years after expulsion.