Latest #Legal #News;The (EU) directive thus seeks to prevent economically inactive #European #Union citizens from using the host member states welfare system to fund their #means of #subsistence. A European Court of Justice ruling backing Germanys attempts to restrict unemployed migrants rights to welfare has been welcomed by David Cameron. The UK prime minister said the decision on so-called benefit tourism, which could set a precedent for other EU nations, was simple common sense. It could allow the UK to exclude some EU migrants from specific benefits. Mr Cameron is under pressure to reduce EU migration and will outline his plans by the end of the year. He has called for reforms to the principle of free movement of people within the EU - but has been told an arbitrary cap on numbers will not be accepted. The BBCs assistant political editor Norman Smith said the government - so often at odds with the European Court of Justice in the past - was hailing the ruling as endorsing Mr Camerons approach to reforming the EU. Freedom of movement But he said the huge caveat was that the decision could also be used to show a big shakeup of the system was not needed. The government has already tightened the rules so EU migrants have to wait three months after arriving in the UK before they can claim child benefit and child tax credits. Migrants are also barred from claiming jobseekers allowance after three months if they are not looking for work, and the prime minister has said he wants to go further. He said the European courts ruling was significant, adding: Its a good step in the right direction: As Ive said, the right to live and work in another country should not be an unqualified right; there should be rules about restricting benefits and this is good news. Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said the excellent ruling backed the governments argument that free movement was not an absolute right, and backed Britains cased for tighter curbs on benefits for EU migrants. Tuesdays ruling from the Luxembourg-based court relates to a case involving a Romanian woman and her son living in Germany who had been denied access to a non-contributory subsistence allowance from its social security system. line Analysis by Europe correspondent Chris Morris This isnt a blanket ban on EU migrants claiming benefits - nothing like it. The woman involved in this case, Elisabeta Dano, already receives child benefit in Germany. But the European Court agreed that she could be denied access to a subsistence allowance available to jobseekers because she isnt actively seeking work. The Court also said Ms Dano and her son could not claim a right of residence in Germany because they do not have sufficient resources to support themselves. In response, the European Commission said it has consistently stressed that freedom of movement is about the right of circulation, not about an unrestricted right to claim benefits - and the European Court has confirmed this. But ironically this ruling could make it more difficult for David Cameron to renegotiate Britains ability to exclude some EU migrants from parts of the benefit system. Other EU leaders could turn round and say that the Court has now made it clear that the UK (and others) can already do that under existing rules. line It said the defendant did not have sufficient financial resources to claim residency in Germany after the initial three months and therefore could not claim that the rules excluding her from certain benefits were discriminatory. More broadly, it said the right of EU citizens to live and work in other member states - the principle of freedom of movement - did not stop states passing legislation of their own excluding migrants from some non-contributory benefits open to their citizens.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 09:59:17 +0000
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