La dimensión social de la ciudadanía europea, con especial referencia a la jurisprudencia comunitaria en materia de libre circulación de los ciudadanos comunitarios y acceso a las prestaciones de asistencia social
Although the legislative competence of EU Member States over their social systems, particularly over the entitlement to social assistance benefits, has not been challenged and will remain for the foreseeable future a matter of national law, the European Court of Justice has used the equal treatment...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Spanish |
| Published: |
Junta de Andalucía: Instituto Andaluz de Administración Pública
2007
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/oaiart?codigo=2578821 |
| Source: | Revista de derecho constitucional europeo, ISSN 1697-7890, Nº. 8, 2007, pags. 95-137 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags: Be the first to tag this record
|
| Summary: |
Although the legislative competence of EU Member States over their social systems, particularly over the entitlement to social assistance benefits, has not been challenged and will remain for the foreseeable future a matter of national law, the European Court of Justice has used the equal treatment clause laid down in the EC-Treaty and the Union citizenship as an instrument to overcome the distinction between workers entitled to full access to social benefits and non-economically active Union citizens who in principle are only entitled to residence in another Member State subject to sufficient ressources for living. In the European Court's case-law, Union citizenship is declared to be the fundamental status of nationals of the Member States, enabling those who find themselves in the same situation to enjoy the same treatment under law irrespective of their nationality. According to this, a citizen lawfully resident in the territoriy of a host Member State can rely on the non-discrimination clause of the Treaty in all situations that fall within the scope of the subject-matter jurisdiction ("ratione materiae") of Community law. The scope of the Treaty within the meaning of Article 12 EC-Treaty has in this context been broadened to the extent that it now also encompasses maintenance aid for students (Bidar), benefits of financial nature intended to facilitate access to employment in the labour market of a Member State (Collins), and other social assistance benefits (Martínez Sala, Grzelczyk, Trojani). However, the Court has never even considered the potential economic impact of its social benefits case law. The recently adopted Directive 2004/38/EC corresponds noticeably in many respects with the Court's case-law, but it does not fully give up the differences between economically active and non-economically active Union citizens in favour of a uniform status of a "Union citizen", making the residence right of the latter category dependent upon proof of sufficient means of subsistence and comprehensive sickness insurance in order to prevent so called "social benefit tourism". |
|---|