Welcome to Maastricht

Date: 05/12/1996

It was unfortunate that, in the week when the information campaign on citizens' rights was launched, a key citizen found herself held in a police station in that historic treaty city of Maastricht, of all places.

The lady in question, a Swedish national living in Belgium and a Commission consultant, was travelling there by train to attend a meeting at the European Institute of Journalism.

The problem was a spot check on identity cards by Dutch police. They were not impressed by her Swedish driving licence and Swedish journalists' card as a substitute for a passport or Belgian identity card, which she did not have with her. Cries of Schengen were of little use, for when the train arrived in Maastricht, she was taken away to the police station. It was even suggested that the police would 'deport' her by driving her back to the Belgian border.

It took the intervention of her boss (a senior Commission official) and a personal visit to the police station by the head of the institute, to win freedom - and that only after much arguing and threats to summon Maastricht's mayor.

What was that about freedom to reside, travel and work anywhere in the Union? It seems like someone forgot to invite the Dutch police to the Citizens First launch, too.