Saving the EU and its welfare states through disincentive to migration? On recent CJEU case-law limiting access of EU migrants to social assistance
Abstract
The Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) has in rulings Dano, Alimanovic, Garcia-Nieto, decided in 2014-2016, changed its traditional approach to the protection of rights of migrating EU citizens. Their rights that used to be derived primarily from their citizenship status, i.e. directly from the Treaty, seem now to be exhaustively and restrictively defined by the conditions of Directive 2004/38.
The paper argues, however, that the three cases concerned represented rather a limited set of situations, such as claims to specific social assistance by economically inactive EU-migrants, or their request for specific social assistance at the beginning of their residence and before they found a job in the host Member State. More importantly and contrary to this development, the CJEU keeps strengthening the rights and entitlements of those who want to be economically active, i.e. of EU migrant workers and self-employed persons.
Thus, regardless of its change of approach in the specific cases Dano, Alimanovic, Garcia-Nieto, the CJEU remains opposed to the restrictions of rights of economically active EU-migrants as these were discussed and promised by EU statesmen at the European Council summit in February 2016