Brussels, 25/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - The United Kingdom, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands have denounced what they call “fraud and systematic abuse in connection with the freedom of movement” by immigrants from other EU countries, and call for legal and financial measures to be toughened. They cite, for example, “bans on re-entry (Ed.: to the host state) for appropriate periods”.
In a letter addressed to the Irish Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers, four ministers responsible for home affairs called for reform of several directives in order to combat social benefits fraud by some immigrants. This is something they consider very widespread but they did not give an estimate as to the scale or the economic consequences.
According to the four states in question, a certain category of European immigration has thus become a “burden”, a weight on host states. Such immigrants commit “fraud” and “abuse” the social protection systems and impose “excessive strain” on municipalities, villages and towns in several member states.
These accusations, coupled with the reproaches against European directives that affect the freedom of movement, have been considered too lax. This is nothing new. The same states have already complained of “social allowance tourism” according to the terms used by the German home minister, Hans-Peter Friedrich, early March in Brussels (see EUROPE 10801). Although such “tourists” are never named, Romanians, Bulgarians and Roma are likely to be the most concerned.
Today, the same countries also call on the European Commission once more, saying they must have at their disposal “the necessary legal tools to fight abuse and fraud effectively in connection with the right to free movement”. At the same time, they propose to discuss the matter at the next meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council (on 6 and 7 June), as well as expulsions, the ban on entry to the territory and the end of the right for an immigrant who has never worked to benefit from the same social protection as a citizen of the host state. The last example is “an affront to common sense and ought to be reviewed urgently”, the ministers say.
Answering questions put to him on Thursday 25 April, the spokesman for Commissioner Laszlo Andor, Jonathan Todd, commented, while specifying that the Commission is preparing a response, that “it is somewhat unusual for member states to ask the Commission to spell out in EU law specific sanctions, because normally whenever we propose measures that spell out specific sanctions, they (Ed.: the four signatories of the letter) are among the member states who object the most loudly”. (JK/transl.jl)