EU Ruling to impact on European Free Movement and the right to residence?

Source : BBC News with Analysis by Europe correspondent Chris Morris
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30002138
The ruling

Today the European Court of Justice gave its ruling on a case that could have a wide ranging impact on European Free Movement. 

"The European Court of Justice has said member states are within their rights to refuse to give financial help to unemployed EU citizens who move to that country just to claim benefits".

The most concerning part of the ruling could be the part relating to the right of residency.
"The Court also said Ms Dano and her son could not claim a right of residence in Germany because they do not have sufficient resources to support themselves"

It could pave the way for even more restrictions to be announced before the end of the year.
"The BBC's assistant political editor Norman Smith said the government - which has often been at odds with the European Court of Justice in the past - was hailing the ruling as evidence the UK and Germany were on the "same page" when it came to benefit abuses and could pave the way for further restrictions in the coming months."

"The prime minister has said he wants to go further and will set out his plans in a speech before the end of the year, amid pressure from Conservative backbenchers to act."

Since posting this yesterday there are now further sources and links to articles now that the press, legal community and the spin doctors have read the ruling:-

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/11/germany-deny-benefits-welfare-jobless-eu-migrants
http://www.theguardian.com/law/2014/nov/11/european-court-benefits-ruling-bolsters-eu-freedom-movement

http://eulawanalysis.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/benefit-tourism-by-eu-citizens-cjeu.html

http://openeuropeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/what-are-implications-of-todays-ecj.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/11224615/EU-benefit-tourists-face-being-sent-home-after-landmark-court-ruling.html

http://www.ein.org.uk/news/european-court-justice-rules-states-can-exclude-benefit-tourists-claiming-social-assistance

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/eu-court-moves-against-benefits-tourism-in-landmark-ruling-9853673.html

Update 20 Nov 2014

It has now been a week since this came out and has been widely hyped and spun by the press in the anti-immigration climate that has developed in the run up to the Rochester by-election that happens today.

So how much of this has been hyped or distorted by the press, spin doctors and politicians? 

Our learned friends at the freemovement blog have been spending a lot of time looking at the facts, analysing the possible implications and cutting through the media spin and hype to bring us an objective view of what if any impact this will have.
http://www.freemovement.org.uk/dano-and-the-exclusion-of-inactive-eu-citizens-from-certain-non-contributory-social-benefits/#more-18373

A big thank you to them for making this widely available to everyone.

EuLawAnalysis blog has also done an article about the historical context of the judgement.
http://eulawanalysis.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/free-movement-and-social-benefits-for.html

Britain fails to renegotiate EU free movement rules

Home Secretary Theresa May’s proposals to place greater restrictions on free movement in the EU were dismissed by the European Commission on Thursday.

At the Brussels meeting of EU ministers, EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding attacked the UK’s welfare system, saying it was “too generous” and “any abuse of benefits by EU migrants is the fault of the British authorities.”

EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding attacked the UK’s welfare system

Last week May suggested a cap on numbers if immigration crosses a certain threshold and proposed new member states reach a certain level of economic output or income per head before full free movement rights are permitted.

“We must be able to slow full access to each other’s labour markets until we can be sure it will not lead to mass migration,” said May.

The Netherlands, Germany and Italy have shown some support for free movement reform.

The meeting follows the announcement by Prime Minister David Cameron of plans to limit EU nationals’ access to benefits in the UK, a move which may turn out to be unlawful under EU law.

Among the limitations on the availability of benefits to EU migrants proposed by Cameron are no unemployment benefits for the first three months, no housing benefits on arrival and no benefits after six months.

Reding said the changes will be monitored in Brussels and challenged legally should they break European law.

“Our EU rules are good and they are here to stay. Member states need to apply them to tackle abuse,” said Reding.

The European Commission is expected to release a report on free movement abuse during the two-day meeting which is scheduled to end today.

The proposals come ahead of the removal of labour market restrictions on Bulgarian and Romanian workers in the UK in January 2014.

The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics reveal the biggest rise in immigration in the year preceding June 2013 was migrants from EU nations. 

October saw the publication of a European Commission report which claims less than 38,000 EU migrants claimed Jobseeker's Allowance in the UK in 2012 and unemployed migrants made up just 1.2 per cent of the total population.

Free movement is a fundamental principal of the EU and one which is closely tied to trade and economic integration. Eurostat data says there were 2.3 million EU citizens in the UK and 2.2 million UK citizens in other EU countries in 2012.