[JURIST] The EU Court of Justice [official website] on Tuesday affirmed [judgment, text] a German court decision to ban unemployment benefits of a Romanian immigrant who did not seek employment in Germany. Pursuant to the 2004 EU directive on freedom of movement [text], EU citizens must have sufficient resources to support themselves after three months of living in the new member state, which the Romanian immigrant could not establish. According to the court [press release], the EU has rules in place to safeguard “freedom of movement” issues and “the right for EU citizens to live and work in other member states,” which include the right of states to pass legislation that will exclude migrants from certain benefits. The court stated:

A Member State must therefore have the possibility of refusing to grant social benefits to economically inactive Union citizens who exercise their right to freedom of movement solely in order to obtain another Member State’s social assistance although they do not have sufficient resources to claim a right of residence.

The directive also states that immigrants are subject to the benefit-exclusion legislation of the country they currently reside in. Since German law states that immigrants must seek employment to be given unemployment benefits, the EU court ruled that Germany rightly denied the Romanian migrant benefits, as she did not meet this requirement. This ruling applies only to non-contributory benefits in which the person seeking monetary assistance has not contributed to the tax system.

Freedom of movement [JURIST report] has been hotly debated among member states of the EU in regards to abuse of state welfare systems by migrants. The free movement of people among EU member states is described as a fundamental right [EU materials], but not all members are satisfied with the current rules. In April 2013 Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK requested that the EU amend its rules [official statement, PDF] to make freedom of movement more restrictive and the claiming of benefits more difficult. In March the EU’s European Commission [official website] announced plans to sue the UK [JURIST report] with respect to its welfare policies, under which migrants must pass a “right to reside” test in order to gain access to the government’s welfare programs. Advocacy organizations such as Open Society Foundations [advocacy website] urge more liberal rules [background materials] in line with the EU goals to promote peace and the greater good of its peoples, claiming freedom of movement is “an important part of this cooperation, encouraging tolerance and understanding among people of different cultures.”