[JURIST] The Court of Justice of the European Union [official website] issued a fine [judgment, in French] Thursday against Italy in the amount of €30 million for failing to recover millions of euros that were improperly granted to hundreds of companies in the form of social security aid. A court ruling in 2011 issued an order to recover the aid, but Italy failed to comply and in some cases even suspended recovery of aid. The court imposed an additional €12 million fine for each six-month period of delay in respecting the 2011 ruling.

The Court of Justice of the European Union is responsible for ensuring EU law is interpreted and applied the same in every EU country and ensuring countries and EU institutions abide by EU law. Earlier in September the EU Court of Justice ruled that Germany was entitled to cut of unemployment benefits [JURIST report] to a Swedish family who migrated to the country and held temporary jobs. The decision affirms previous rulings by lower courts in granting the right of Germany to refuse benefits to individuals who have no intention of finding employment and staying within the member state. Also in September the Court of Justice ruled [JURIST report] that time spent traveling to and from first and last appointments by workers without a fixed office should be regarded as working time. The rule is meant to uphold the purpose of the working time directive of the EU which seeks to ensure that no employee is obliged to work more than an average of 48 hours a week.