Brussels  - The European Commission on Thursday said scam marriages involving immigrants and EU citizens can be prevented without having to limit the free movement of people within the bloc.

"The freedom to live and work abroad is one of the cornerstones of the European Union," said Jacques Barrot, the EU's top justice official.

"We see far more disadvantages than advantages to revising the directive," said Barrot, who acts as the EU's justice, freedom and security commissioner.

Denmark wants to limit the application of the EU's freedom of movement directive in order to crack down on scores of illegal immigrants who marry EU citizens with the sole intention of obtaining an EU residence permit.

Similar concerns have been voiced in Ireland, where an unusually high number of weddings involving Latvians and Pakistanis has been recorded.

A few years ago, women in Poland and Bulgaria were known to be offering to marry non-EU nationals for as little as 800 euros (1,130 dollars).

The controversy stems from a July 2008 ruling by the European Court of Justice.

The Metock case pitted the Irish government against four couples, all involving third-country males who had married British, German or Polish women living in Ireland.

Ireland had wanted to deport the four men on the grounds that they did not hold resident permits in another EU country prior to marriage. But the court ruled against Ireland, saying it could not avoid granting them resident permits.

Seeking to address such concerns, the commission nevertheless agreed to issue guidelines on what it called the "disappointing" implementation of the directive by member states.

The guidelines that were issued Thursday state that governments are fully entitled to check the circumstances surrounding a suspect wedding, but such checks should be carried out on a strictly case-by-case basis.

Moreover, a citizen may be expelled or his freedom of movement curtailed, but only if there is a "genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat affecting one of the fundamental interests" of society. In any case, such a decision must be based on a strictly case-by-case basis, the guidelines state.

Italy's centre-right government has come under attack in recent months for seeking to crack down on petty crime by targeting its Roma community, many of whom come from member state Romania.

On Thursday, the Italian Senate gave its final approval to controversial legislation that makes illegal immigration a punishable offence and allows mayors to form civilian anti-crime patrols in towns and cities.

Barrot said the new Italian law would come under the commission's intense scrutiny for possible violations of EU rules. (dpa)