EU Citizenship: Access to Social Benefits in Other EU Member States

Abstract

As the result of the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union on EU citizenship provisions, even citizens who are not economically active have access to social benefits in a country other than that of origin. Is it justified to connect such effects to EU citizenship, even though EU citizenship does not yet have an identity of its own? In this contribution the case law is analysed and it is argued that because of the objective justification that Member States can still offer for limiting access to their systems, more precisely by the link they may require between the claimant and their community, the case law fits well in the system for achieving the free movement of persons. This 'link approach' is a better explanation for the consistency of the case law than an explanation based on cross-border solidarity or a special identity relating to EU citizenship.

EU Law as a Creative Process

“…24 Paul Ricoeur, 'Le Symbolisme et l'explication structurale', Cahiers internationaux du symbolisme 4 (1964), 81-96, at p. 83-84; See also Paul Ricoeur, Interpretation Theory: discourse and the surplus of meaning (Texas Christian University Press 1976), 1-23. 25 Gary B Madison, 'Ricoeur and the hermeneutics of the subject' in Lewis E Hahn (ed), The Philosophy of Paul Ricoeur (Open Court 1995), 75. 26 Mario J Valdes, 'Paul Ricoeur and literary theory' in Lewis E Hahn (ed), The Philosophy of Paul Ricoeur (Open Court 1995), 262.…”

“…In recent years, the Court has developed a very strict and ambitious line of case law based on the Data Protection Directive, in which it offers a high level of protection to data subjects. This has served as a basis for the high level of protection ensured by the General Data Protection Regulation 25 (GDPR which entered into force in 2018), with effects that extend beyond the borders of the EU. In Chapter 6 we examine the judgments in Digital Rights Ireland and Google Spain, which were formative of the Court's new and strict approach to data protection.…”

“…24 Case C-333/13 Dano ECLI:EU:C:2014:2358 [2014]. 25 Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation)). can be roughly divided into three categories: (1) theories that place the conflict between internal market law and fundamental rights in the context of the division of competences between the EU and Member States: 26 (2) theories on methods of adjudication, which examine, for instance, the various adjudicative techniques for dealing with a conflict between internal market rights and fundamental rights, such as balancing, as well as the more 'legal-technical' aspects of such a balancing exercise; 27 and (3) theories about the nature and compatibility of fundamental rights and the EU's internal market law.…”

“…24 Furthermore, Ricoeur as a phenomenologist focused on the experience of language use for human subjectivity, i.e. the conscious experience of life and agency, 25 and therefore found that meaning is produced at the level of discourse, rather than the level of syntax and lexicon. 26 We therefore learn from the work of both White and Ricoeur that the activity of reading and writing legal (or other) texts cannot be completely reduced to descriptive or analytic terms, even though what a text says can, to a certain extent, be explained by, for instance, narrative or structuralist analysis.…”

“…The sheer volume of cases that need to be dealt with by the ECJ within a reasonable time obviously has repercussions for the amount of time that is dedicated to the reflection upon, and drafting of, a single case, and therefore, for the quality of the drafting. 25…”