A Union citizen who has established habitual residence in a host Member State is entitled to family allowances during the first three months of his or her stay, even if he or she does not receive income from an activity in that Member State, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled on the 1 August.
The Court’s findings follow the rejection in Germany of an application for family allowances by a citizen of an EU Member State for the first three months following the establishment of that person’s residence in Germany, on the grounds that they had not received any national income during this period.
The CJEU ruled in favour of the complainant and recalled that EU citizens are in principle entitled to equal treatment with nationals.
While EU law does provide for a derogation whereby the host Member State may refuse to grant an economically inactive Union citizen a social assistance benefit during the first three months of his or her stay, family allowances do not constitute social assistance benefits within the meaning of this derogation, the Court went on to point out.
Therefore, Union law precludes the difference in treatment introduced by the German legislator, provided that the Union citizen concerned has actually established their habitual residence in the host Member State during the first three months of their stay.
See the judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/2rp (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)