The European Commission announced Thursday (July 25) that it is suing Germany and Italy for passing laws that allegedly discriminate against European Union (EU) migrants availing of social security benefits, news agency Politico reported last week (July 25). 

In two separate statements on its website, the European Commission said that it is referring both Italy and Germany to the European Court of Justice for passing laws that reduce the amount of family benefits paid to mobile workers. The laws violate EU principles of equal treatment, said the European Commission. According to EU laws, mobile workers are defined as EU nationals working in a country where they do not hold citizenship.  

In 2018, the southern German state of Bavaria introduced a new scheme of family allowances for residents of Bavaria with young children who fall between the ages of 3 and below. According to the new program, EU nationals with children who reside in a Member State where the cost of living is lower than in Bavaria will receive a reduced amount of the benefit.

Meanwhile, Italy in March 2022 introduced a new scheme of family allowances for dependent children where workers who have not lived in Italy for at least two years or whose children do not reside in Italy are not eligible to receive family benefits.

The Commission claimed that under the fundamental EU principle of equal treatment, EU mobile workers should be treated equally without distinction based on nationality. The basis for this is that EU nationals contribute in the same way to the social security system and pay the same taxes as local workers and should be entitled to the same social security benefits. 

In June 2022, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that Austria's family benefits system, which reduced payments for workers whose children live in poorer countries, violated EU law. 

Violation of treaties and agreements 

According to the European Commission, the laws passed by Germany and Italy are in violation of a number of EU-wide treaties, namely: 

• Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) --Article 45 of this treaty prohibits discrimination of EU citizens on the basis of their nationality in another EU Member State when it comes to access to employment and conditions of work. 
• Regulation (EU) No 492/2011 -- Article 7(2) of this regulation about the freedom of movement for workers specifies that EU mobile workers should enjoy the same social and tax advantages as national workers. This includes family benefits. 
• Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 -- states that EU mobile workers should be treated equally as the nationals in the Member State where they work. They are entitled to the same amount of family benefits and this includes family benefits for their dependent children who reside permanently in another Member State. 

The Commission mentioned that it had previously communicated its concerns to Germany and Italy but had not received satisfactory responses. As a result, it has referred both countries to the ECJ, labeling the schemes as discriminatory. 

No German, no service

According to a 2022 research about the availment of benefits by EU migrants in Germany, institutional discrimination often leads to unequal access to state-provided benefits and services for intra-EU migrants.

The study, entitled, "No German, No Service", indicated that intra-EU migrants encountered a "faceless bureaucracy" in the form of everyday routines and practices that hindered them from accessing state-sponsored benefits. 

The research analyzed 103 in-depth interviews which revealed that informal yet systemic language discrimination in government agencies were often linked to recurring patterns of exclusion.

The study hoped to show how the EU principles of freedom of movement and equal treatment are often violated because of "how informal inequalities in access emerge at different stages of the benefit-claiming process."