Case registered before the CJEU under C-422/21 and the CEJE ruled on this case in the judgement Ministero dell’Interno v TO, C-422/21, ECLI:EU:C:2022:616, 1 August 2022.

The applicant was withdrawn reception conditions by order of the Florence Prefecture after having verbally and physically assaulted police officers, precisely for serious breach of the reception centre rules and based on lack of comments from the applicant.

The applicant appealed before the Regional administrative court which allowed it based on the CJEU ruling Zubair Habqin, 12 November 2019. The Ministry of Interior appealed against the judgement and invoked that the CJEU ruling does not exclude the possibly of alterative measure or even withdrawal of reception conditions. The Ministry of Interior complained that application of the general principles would lead to absurd results, leaving the Member States with no means to penalise applicants for international protection by revoking a reception measure, even in the case of serious breaches by the applicant of the rules of the reception centre or serious violent conduct on its part, without distinguishing between vulnerable persons (including UAMs) and those who are not (like in the present case) and regardless of the seriousness of the impugned conduct.

The Ministry of Interior requested the case to be referred for a preliminary ruling to the CJEU. The Council of State considered that there are doubts as to the compatibility with EU law of the interpretation and application given by the first court to the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (Grand Chamber) of 12 November 2019, delivered in Case 233/18, which led it to disapply the national provision (Article 23 (1) (e) of Legislative Decree No 142/2015) on the ground that it is allegedly incompatible with EU law.

The Council of State asked the Court of Justice of the European Union, pursuant to Article 267 TFEU, to give a ruling on the following question:

“Whether Article 20 (4) and (5) of Directive 2013/33/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 preclude national legislation which provides for the withdrawal of reception measures for applicants who are older and do not fall within the category of ‘vulnerable persons’, where the applicant himself is deemed to be the perpetrator of particularly violent behaviour outside the reception centre, which has resulted in the use of physical violence to the detriment of public officials and/or public service officers, causing the victims to be injured in such a way as to enable them to take the necessary care.’