Judgment_paragraph 40 · K. v Staatssecretaris van Veiligheid en Justitie and H.F. v Belgische Staat (C-331/16, C-366/16)

40In accordance with the Court’s settled case-law, while Member States essentially retain the freedom to determine the requirements of public policy and public security in accordance with their national needs, which can vary from one Member State to another and from one era to another, particularly as justification for a derogation from the fundamental principle of free movement of persons, those requirements must nevertheless be interpreted strictly, so that their scope cannot be determined unilaterally by each Member State without any control by the institutions of the European Union (judgment of 22 May 2012, I., C‑348/09, EU:C:2012:300, paragraph 23 and the case-law cited; see, to that effect, judgment of 13 July 2017, E, C‑193/16, EU:C:2017:542, paragraph 18 and the case-law cited).