91997E2672

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2672/97 by Leonie van Bladel (UPE) to the Council (1 September 1997)

Subject: Harm done to the citizen'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' 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.