Making the payment of school transport costs conditional on residence in a particular region constitutes discrimination against cross-border workers, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled on Thursday 2 April (Case C-830/18).
A young German attends a school in the Land Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany) but resides in France with his parents, who are also German. His mother works in Germany. Since 2015, the district has refused to cover the costs of school transport because, according to Land legislation, the pupil does not reside in that Land.
The CJEU, hearing a case before it by the Higher Administrative Court of Rhineland-Palatinate, finds that the mother of the young German may rely, as a 'migrant worker', on the principle of equal treatment against her Member State of origin (Germany), under Regulation (492/2011) on freedom of movement for workers.
The Court then holds that the contested measure places cross-border workers residing in another Member State at a disadvantage and therefore constitutes indirect discrimination, in principle prohibited by Union law, and an obstacle to the free movement of workers. And the fact that domestic workers who reside in other Länder are also subject to that requirement has no bearing in that regard.
The Court acknowledges that the organisation of the school system of the Land of Rhineland-Palatinate may constitute a legitimate objective. Nevertheless, it is of the opinion that the organisation of school transport is not inextricably linked to that of the school system within that Land. Consequently, the Land’s provisions are not justified by an overriding reason relating to the public interest.
As the Higher administrative court points out, other measures are possible for calculating the amount of school transport costs to be reimbursed by the beneficiary. The place where the linear distance between the actual residence and the nearest school crosses the Land border could be taken into consideration as the place of residence of the student.
See the judgment: https://bit.ly/3bLLIwh (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)