Brussels, 14/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission once again, on Monday 14 October, felt it necessary to respond to claims from the United Kingdom on the pressure that 600,000 unemployed Europeans are putting on the country's free public health system, the NHS, costing almost €1.5 billion. The charge was published in the Sunday Telegraph of 13 October, which said that the Commission would, on Monday, bring forward a report confirming this to be the case. However, Commission spokesperson Jonathon Todd said on Monday that this was a gross and irresponsible caricaturisation of the facts. The report does, indeed, speak of 600,000 non-active European migrants but, as well as job seekers, the figure includes pupils and students, retired people and parents on parental leave. With the spin put on the figures by the Sunday Telegraph, 43% of the UK population between the ages of 15 and 64 could be classed as non-active, making 12 million unemployed. No one can seriously claim there are 12 million unemployed in the United Kingdom, Todd went on. The report published by the Commission indicates that 84% of the non-European migrants active in the UK are related to an economically active EU citizen and 64% of non-European migrants active in the UK have already worked there. Non-active EU citizens in the UK population totalled 1.2% in 2011 and that figure remained unchanged in 2012. They cost the NHS only between 0.7% and 1.1% of its budget. In Luxembourg last Tuesday, Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Viviane Reding responded to issues surrounding freedom of movement raised by a number of member states, including the UK and Germany, with a five-step action plan. On Monday, the services of Employment Commissioner Laszlo Andor published a study on the relationship between European migrants and the social benefits paid out to them. The study reveals that European migrants are, for the most part, active and receive very little by way of benefits, with an average of 0.2% of health spending at a cost of 0.01% of the GDP of the country in which they are living. (SP/transl.fl)