INTRODUCTION

Freedom of movement is the most cherished right of EU citizens and also one of the foundations of the EU. It is also considered as the best model of integration of the European project. This fundamental right is nevertheless neither unconditional nor total. Since the very beginning, the first treaties planned for possibilities to derogate from the general rule. Member States were allowed to take restrictive measures in case of a threat to public policy, to public security and to public health. These public threats are referring to the public interest of each Member State, which can vary from one Member State to another one and from one time period to another. So public interest served first as an exception to the general rule of freedom of movement. Today, in EU internal migration law, it is still clearly linked to the notions of threat to public policy, to public security, to public health but also to the preservation of public finance. Public interest is therefore a powerful institution covering different concerns and able, temporarily and under certain conditions, to prevail over a fundamental right. Unfortunately, both at the European and local level, the concept remains general, elusive and variable. The absence of a clear European delimitation leads consequently to a diversity of national understandings and gives to this concept a dual dimension (European and national).

This chapter relates to EU citizens on the move within the EU territory, who are accused of being a threat to the public interest by their host Member States. It first examines the link between the public interest exception and the EU fundamental right of freedom of movement. It delimitates its quotations in EU primary and secondary law, recalls its dual dimension and presents attempts at definition of this complex institution. Secondly, it addresses the national practices by quoting typical instances used by EU Member States and their framing by EU law. Thirdly, it considers the question of the weight of the public interest by referring to its parameters as an exception and by examining the weight of each type of national public interest. Finally, it investigates the legal consequences of its disregard by EU citizens on the move.