ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to analyse the relevance of the fundamental right to private and family life as a bar to the deportation of long-term integrated immigrants following a criminal conviction. Based on recent ECHR and ECJ case law concerning “pathological events” in the relationship between third-country nationals and host States, the analysis focuses on the criteria and grounds for deeming social and family ties to be of such significance that expulsion or the execution of a European arrest warrant under Art. 4(6) of Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA should be denied. In view of the ECJ Grand Chamber judgment of 6 June 2023 in case C-700/21, O.G. (Mandat d’arrêt européen à l’encontre d’un ressortissant d’un État tiers), this also marks a new step in the dialogue between the Luxembourg Court and the Italian Constitutional Court. As it will be seen, this issue is central in the relationship between EU immigration policy, judicial cooperation in criminal matters, and the protection of fundamental rights.
