WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2672/97 by Leonie van BLADEL to the Council. Harm done to the citizen's confidence in the EU - follow-up to previous questions on Jolanda Bona
25. 5. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 158/5 passport: I therefore intend to delete the Netherlands nationality of Jolanda Letitia Bona from our personal records database and withdraw the Netherlands passportí. Does the Presidency realize that for Amsterdam municipal executive to delete Jolanda Bonaís 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 citizensí 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? (98/C 158/07) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2672/97 by Leonie van Bladel (UPE) to the Council (1 September 1997) Subject: Harm done to the citizenís 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 parentsí 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