García Nieto: Another Restrictive Approach in the European Citizenship Case Law

Abstract

(Series Information) European Papers - A Journal on Law and Integration, 2016 1(2), 763-764 | (Abstract) The García-Nieto judgment concerns a Spanish family who moved to Germany and applied for subsistence benefits. As the father was economically inactive and had not lived in the host Member State for the minimum time required (three months), he was refused the allowance. The Court of Justice of the European Union was asked through a preliminary ruling to pronounce on the compatibility of this German rule with EU law - more precisely with Directive 2004/38/EC on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States and Regulation (EC) 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems. The Court decided that the German regulation did not breach the latter, confirming the Dano-Alimanovic "restrictive" recent line of jurisprudence on EU citizenship.

Keywords

• cjeu
• eu citizenship
• social benefits
• short-term residence
• economically inactive
• family reunification