The European Commission has published guidelines to help member states decide which migrants from the bloc qualify for welfare benefits, if at all, after Brussels took the UK to court over an additional test it has imposed on people moving here from other European member countries.
As of January 1 this year, the EU labour market was opened fully to Bulgaria and Romania, which led to calls from the UK Government and others for tighter welfare controls amid concerns about benefits abuse.
So concerned was the Government here that it introduced a law restricting access to a number of social security benefits that would otherwise be available to those coming into the country from another EU member state.
However, the EC has sent the test to the European Court of Justice, as it believes it to be unfair, with EU Employment Commissioner Laszio Andor saying that mobile workers complement host country workers, rather than take jobs away, as they can address skills gaps and labour shortages.
The Commission has also pointed out that member states should not raise new barriers to freedom of movement, which it says the UK test does, even though it acknowledges that social security rules and the size of benefits vary greatly across the EU.
The guidelines published yesterday (January 13) say that member states may, in principle provide in the their nation legislation for additional conditions for entitlement to a specific benefit or cover in a particular social security system.
However, it is made clear in the statement that the national criteria must be compatible with EU law and non-discriminatory, while a national definition of “residence” must also be in line with EU law.