The European Commission said Thursday it is taking legal action against Germany and Italy, accusing both countries of discriminating against EU migrants regarding social security.
In 2018 and 2022, respectively, the German state of Bavaria and Italy passed laws reducing the amount of family benefits paid to mobile workers — a term referring to EU nationals working in a country where they are not citizens.
As a result, the Commission referred Italy and Germany to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), calling the schemes “discrimination.”
“One of the fundamental principles of the EU is that people are treated equally without any distinction based on nationality,” the Commission said in a statement.
“EU mobile workers who contribute in the same way to the social security system and pay the same taxes as local workers are entitled to the same social security benefits.”
Workers in Italy who haven’t lived in the country for two years, or whose children don’t live there, are not eligible to receive family benefits, while in Bavaria, workers whose children live in an EU member country with a lower cost of living compared to Bavaria receive a reduced amount.
In a similar case in June 2022, the ECJ ruled that Austria’s family benefits system, which reduced payments for workers whose children live in poorer countries, violated EU law.
The Commission said it had earlier written to Germany and Italy with its concerns but had not received a satisfactory reply.
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