91997E2321

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2321/97 by Leonie van Bladel (UPE) to the Council (18 July 1997)

Subject: Legal certainty with regard to possession of a Netherlands passport

1. On 2 October 1997 Amsterdam municipal executive informed the father (a naturalized Netherlands national) of the 14-year old Jolanda Bona, a girl of Surinamese origin, as follows concerning her nationality and

passport: 'I therefore intend to delete the Netherlands nationality of Jolanda Letitia Bona from our personal records database and withdraw the Netherlands passport'. Does the Presidency realize that for Amsterdam municipal executive to delete Jolanda Bona'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' 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?

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.