.png)
ECJ ruling deals blow to ‘benefits shoppers’
Court of Justice says EU member states can refused benefits to unemployed foreign nationals
Inactive foreign nationals may be refused benefits, according to EU court ruling
European Union countries can cut benefits to unemployed immigrants from other member states, the EU’s Courtof Justice said in a ruling.
EU nations are allowed to refuse some benefits to “economically inactive” foreign nationals who go to another country only to get social assistance, the EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg ruled today in a case concerning two Romanians who received some aid in Germany.
The ruling brings clarity about the rights of EU citizens and their families, the EU’s executive arm in Brussels said.
“The European Commission has consistently stressed that free movement is the right to free circulation, it is not a right to freely access the member states’ social-assistance
systems and the court confirms this,” Mina Andreeva, a spokeswoman for the Brussels-based authority, told reporters.
The court said that under EU law, a person must have the resources to support themselves to stay in another member country to prevent an abuse of the welfare system.
Each individual case will have to be analyzed “without taking account of the social benefits claimed,” the EU court said in a statement today.
