Italian legislation (Law 190/2014 and Legislative Decree 151/2001) denying third-country nationals who hold a single work permit in the European Union the right to childbirth and maternity allowances is contrary to EU law, the Court of Justice of the EU ruled on Thursday 2 September (Case C-350/20).
Third-country nationals holding a single work permit under Directive 2011/98 are challenging, in the Italian courts, the refusal of the Italian authorities to grant them childbirth and maternity allowances on the grounds that they do not have long-term resident status.
Following a referral from the Italian Constitutional Court, the Court of Justice ruled in favour of the third-country nationals. It notes that the Directive gives effect to the right of access to social security benefits enshrined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (Article 34). Since the scope of this provision of the Directive is determined by the Regulation (883/2004) on the coordination of national social security systems, the Court verifies whether the two allowances constitute benefits falling under the branches of social security.
In both cases, the answer is yes. These benefits are granted on the basis of objective means tests without taking into account the personal circumstances of the recipient.
As Italy has not made use of the option to limit the equal treatment offered by the Directive (Article 12), the Court concludes that the Italian regulation infringes EU law.
See the judgment: https://bit.ly/3BxTTco (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)