Controversial ECJ ruling: CDU warns of "child benefit tourism"
Created: 08/03/2022 05:37
By: Patricia Huber
The European Court of Justice has ruled that immigrants from the EU can also receive child benefit without a job.
But the verdict caused a stir.
Luxembourg – The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has overturned several German regulations on how to deal with refugees and migrants.
This also includes a regulation on the payment of child benefit, which has restricted this for people who have moved from other EU countries.
Until now, anyone who moves to Germany from another EU country must also have a job here in order to receive child benefit.
ECJ decision: child benefit for immigrants without a job
However, the ECJ judges have now decided that child benefit must also be paid without a job.
After all, it is not a benefit that serves to ensure subsistence, but to balance family burdens.
However, the federal government does not seem to be really enthusiastic about this verdict.
According to the Ministry of Finance, it should be checked “immediately”.
It is an "urgent concern (...) to prevent an inappropriate use of the social system in Germany," said a ministry spokesman for the
Bild
newspaper on Tuesday.
Criticism of the judgment came from the CDU.
CDU criticizes child benefit ruling and warns of "social fraudsters"
The Hamburg member of the Bundestag Christoph de Vries (CDU) criticized the decision.
The basic idea of freedom of movement in the EU is "not based on the use of more attractive social benefits
," he said
.
The judgment harbors the risk of "child benefit tourism to Germany".
He called on the federal government to find a "legally secure solution" that would prevent this.
The European politician Dennis Radtke also demanded
that
the state must take consistent action “against social fraudsters”.
Refugee immigration also for adults
In addition to the regulation on child benefit, the ECJ also overturned a rule on refugee immigration.
So far, it has been common practice in Germany for such a subsequent immigration to be denied if a minor child becomes of legal age during the procedure.
"According to this logic, the families pay for the fact that the German bureaucracy works so slowly," argues the refugee organization Pro Asyl.
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The ECJ shares this view.
According to the German rules, the competent authorities and courts would have no reason to process the parents' applications with the necessary urgency.
In addition, the success of an application depends mainly on circumstances that are in the hands of national authorities and courts.
(pH/AFP)
