European Union – Freedom of movement. Article 27(2) of Directive (EC) 2004/38 should be interpreted as meaning that the fact that a person was imprisoned at the time the expulsion decision had been adopted, without the prospect of being released in the near future, did not exclude that his conduct represented, as the case might be, a present and genuine threat for a fundamental interest of the society of the host member state. The Court of Justice of the European Union so ruled in a preliminary ruling in proceedings between a Spanish provincial office and the applicant concerning the applicant's expulsion from Spain with a ten-year ban on grounds of public security.