Economic recessions have traditionally been used as either reasons or pretexts for the expulsion of migrant workers and the relatively secure framework established by European Union law has not managed to escape this trend. The paper will trace changes in the system of protection afforded to offending European Union citizens by Directive 2004/38 on Union citizenship during the past five years and will argue for a closer alignment of international migration law and European Union law and for the exercise of political leadership in this area. It will focus on the expulsion of long-term resident EU citizens and minor EU citizens and will examine how the terms ‘public policy’, ‘public security’ and ‘imperative grounds of public security’ have been interpreted in national arenas and by the Court of Justice of the European Union. By revealing the extent of national divergence in the level of protection afforded to minors who have few or no links with the country which features in their passport or their parents’ passport, the discussion will make the case for a revised Article 28(3) of Directive 2004/38. This should either confine an expulsion decision against long-term resident EU citizens and minor EU citizens to imperative grounds of national security, along the lines of preserving the integrity of the territory of a Member State and its institutions or make those categories of citizens not expellable at all.
