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EU courts rule against Schengen ban

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Immigration databases blacklisting non-European nationals for security or criminal reasons must be in line with EU freedom of movement law, Europe's courts ruled this week.

The European court of justice has ruled on a clash between restrictions imposed by national governments on foreign nationals and EU freedoms.

The case involved two Algerians married to Spanish nationals. They were barred from Spain by an immigration blacklist involving all EU countries except the UK, Ireland and Denmark.

The pair had been included on the 'Schengen Information System' (SIS) by Germany as posing a threat to public policy or security.

In one of the cases a man was included on the SIS blacklist because he had a conviction for driving a car without a licence.

The EU courts have judged that governments should establish that an individual poses a real threat before he or she is barred.