L’accesso dei cittadini europei inattivi alle prestazioni sociali tra illusione e realtà dopo la sentenza Familienkasse Niedersachsen- Bremen

Abstract

The question of access to their rights by European citizens, and in particular those relating to the so-called “welfare”, in order to guarantee the full enjoyment of EU citizenship, including social citizenship, has been the subject, over the last twenty years, of numerous rulings by the judges of the Union, as well as of many doctrinal reflections, concerning, more specifically, the access to these rights by all European citizens, active and inactive, regardless of their nationality. However, the application of the principle of equal treatment between European citizens of different nationalities becomes rather complicated when faced with access to social benefits by inactive European citizens residing in the host Member States. This paper intends to deal with these latter issues, considering the ruling of the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice in the Familienkasse case. This sentence presents, in fact, elements of absolute coherence with the well-known ruling in the 2016 Commission v. UK case, thus completing the interpretative framework regarding the access to social security benefits, pursuant to Regulation 883/2004, also based on its not simple relationship with Directive 2004/38. However, the restrictive interpretation of the exception to the prohibition of discrimination based on nationality, referred to in Article 24(2) of Directive 2004/38, may constitute an aspect of a certain interest in the future development of that area of law.