Brussels, 26/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - Belgian rules that require people to have studied for at least six years in Belgian schools if they are to be entitled to interim welfare payments (allocations d'attente) infringe the EU rules on the free circulation of individuals and are an obstacle to taking account of other factors that can establish a genuine connection between an applicant for welfare payments and the Belgian labour market. They therefore exceed what is necessary to achieve the objective pursued by the rules in question, namely of establishing such a connection.
This was the essence of a ruling issued by the European Court of Justice on Thursday 25 October in Case C-367/11 in response to a request from the Belgian appeals court about the compatibility of the measure in question with EU law. The case in question is of a French woman who studied in France and had been registered as a job-seeker in Belgium for two years, after she married a Belgian in 2001. Her application for interim welfare payments (paid in Belgium to young people who have finished studying and are seeking their first job) was rejected by the national employment office on the grounds that she had not studied for at least six years, as required by Belgian law, in an educational establishment in Belgium before getting her school-leaving certificate.
In justifying the ruling, the Court of Justice points out that in its case-law, it is legitimate for a national legislator to want to establish the existence of a genuine connection between an applicant for interim welfare payments and the geographical labour market in question, and the existence of such a connection may be verified by the applicant spending a reasonable period of time genuinely seeking employment in the member state in question; or by the fact that the applicant has been living in the member state in question, but if a minimum residence period is required, the Court says it must not be longer than necessary for the national authorities to be able to ensure that the applicant is genuinely seeking employment on the labour market of the host country. The fact that the applicant had moved from France to Belgium to live their with her husband, a passport-holder of the country in question, is another factor that can be used to verify that there is a genuine connection with the Belgian labour market.
The requirements laid down by Belgium are therefore deemed excessive vis-à-vis the objectives sought, and infringe EU rules. (FG/transl.fl)