EU court curbs welfare rights

EU judges have tightened rules on welfare for non-nationals in a move welcomed by the British government.

The Court of Justice in Luxembourg, on Tuesday (15 September), ruled that host states can stop welfare payments to people from other EU states even if they’ve spent some time working in the host country.

It said if they’ve worked for less than one year, but then stop work and stop looking for work, their benefits can be cut off after six months.

They can also be deported, but only after authorities assess their individual circumstances and find that they’re not seeking a new job and have become “an unreasonable burden” on the state.

But no individual assessment is needed to impose the benefits cut.

The case arose out of Germany and involved a Swedish family of Bosnian origin.

Nazifa Alimanovic and her three daughters moved to Germany in 2010. She and her eldest daughter worked for a short time before becoming long-term uemployed in 2011. They then claimed unemployment benefits, while the two younger daughers got child support.

The judgement is the second in a row restricting what the UK goverment calls “welfare tourism”.

The prior ruling, in 2014, said host countries can withhold benefits to non-nationals if they had never worked and never looked for work.

The European Commission, which is keen to mollify British concerns ahead of the in/out referendum, hailed Tuesday’s verdict.

Its spokesman, Christian Wiegand, told press in Brussels it “brings more clarity” to the limits of EU free movement.

He added: “Free movement is the right to free circulation, not the right to free access to social benefits when searching for jobs. There are clear limits to entitlements for economically non-active EU citizens”.

A UK government spokesperson told media in London: “This is a welcome ruling which shows we are right to restrict benefits going to EU nationals who haven’t paid into the system in the UK”.

Anthea McIntyre, a spokeswoman for the ruling centre-right Conservative party, told the FT it’s “a major endorsement of our stance on benefit tourism and our views on free movement”.

She added: "Increasingly the rest of Europe is seeing things our way. It bodes well for one of our key areas of renegotiation”.

David Cameron i, the Tory PM, is currently touring EU capitals before presenting his wishlist of EU reforms.

EU welfare and internal migration rules are expected to form a central point in his proposals, not least given the anti-immigrant discourse of No campaigners on the in/out vote.

The court ruling comes amid a broader debate on EU free movement prompted by the refugee crisis.