Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala has joined a growing bloc of European leaders demanding greater national authority to deport foreign nationals who commit crimes, aligning with an initiative led by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
In a post on X on Thursday, Fiala wrote, “The safety of our people must come first. We need to be able to expel dangerous foreigners and defend ourselves against the abuse of migration by hostile regimes.” He described the joint appeal as “an invitation to an open debate on how courts interpret human rights in today’s difficult times.”
The initiative comes as European governments increasingly clash with judicial constraints they argue prevent effective responses to illegal migration and threats to public safety. The letter has also been signed by leaders from Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland.
Together, the group is calling for a reassessment of how the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is interpreted, especially by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), particularly with regard to deportation powers and national sovereignty.
As Remix News reported last week, the move is timed to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the Convention, signed on Nov. 4, 1950. Instead of a celebratory gesture, however, the signatories reportedly aim to “launch a debate” about whether the Convention remains fit for purpose.
The joint declaration argues that “what was right yesterday may not be right today.”
The core of the complaint centers on cases in which national governments have had their deportation efforts blocked by courts citing human rights protections, particularly Article 3 of the ECHR, which prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment. Critics argue this has led to a de facto immunity from expulsion for foreign nationals convicted of serious crimes.
“We have seen cases concerning the expulsion of criminal foreign nationals, where the interpretation of the Convention has resulted in the protection of the wrong people and posed too many limitations on the states’ ability to decide whom to expel from their territories,” the letter said.
It further called for member states to “have more room nationally to decide on when to expel criminal foreign nationals.”
Speaking at a joint press conference with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in Rome on Thursday, Italian premier Giorgia Meloni said, “We must ask ourselves whether the tests we are referring to and their interpretations are actually capable of responding to the needs that are felt by citizens and also to the values that we want to defend.”
“This initiative is open to everyone’s contribution and subscription, and with the launch of a debate, we want to seriously reflect and reason with new schemes without being afraid to tackle problems where we see them.”
“The reality in which we now operate as European democratic leaders is simply too difficult for us to expel criminal foreigners from our societies,” added Frederiksen. “And I am quite sure that I speak for the majority of Europeans in saying that this situation cannot continue. Because of this, we also have to see how the European Convention on Human Rights then materialises in reality, how it is ultimately implemented.”
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