(BRUSSELS) - European Union citizens can only be expelled from EU countries on an individual basis, the bloc's executive body underlined Monday, after the expulsion of dozens of Romanians in Italy under an emergency decree.

More than 30 Romanians considered to be dangerous have been expelled under the decree, issued after a fatal attack on an Italian woman in which a Romanian man was implicated.

"EU law does allow member states to act with regard to certain persons, individuals, who pose a threat to public security or public health," said the Commission's justice affairs spokesman Friso Roscam Abbing.

But he told reporters: "There cannot be a situation of group expulsion or group assessment."

"This needs to be individually targetted. It needs to be certain that this applies to that specific person and that specific person only, and/or his immediate family members."

The spokesman added that any such expulsion "needs to be accompanied by a legal redress mechanism."

He could not say whether the Italian decree respected the conditions, preferring to say only that the Commission had not officially been notified about the move.

In an open letter to Italy's Il Messaggero newspaper Monday, Prime Minister Romano Prodi defended his government's actions.

"The emergency expulsion decree for EU citizens who pose a public and social danger was a necessary action but also a fair one," the former European Commission chief wrote.

Politicians on Italy's far left have decried the expulsions, while right-wing figures have called for massive, in some cases wholesale, deportations.

Some Romanians are leaving of their own accord fearing xenophobic attacks.

Masked Italian men beat up three Romanians on Friday in an incident widely believed to be linked to the fatal assault on the woman, the wife of a high-ranking naval officer, three days earlier.

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