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EU court rules on equal child benefit for migrant workers

Migration news. Refugees in Germany. The European Court of Justice rules that migrants workers must receive just as much child benefit as nationals and that other regulations were described as discriminatory.

An Austrian law spurred this decision.

EU countries have been asked to grant benefit uniformly. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) had ruled that adjustment of payments for migrant workers from other EU countries according to the cost of living in the country of origin is inadmissible.

The family benefits for migrant workers would have to correspond “exactly” to those for nationals, the judgement said.

The reason for the ECJ ruling was that the difference in purchasing power for residents not taking into account as compared for immigrant workers.

According to Tagesschau, the Luxembourg judgement, an adjustment of payments is also inadmissible in the case of benefits that the ECJ does not classify as “family benefits”. It’s about tax breaks for single parents or single earners.

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What was Austria’s regulation?

Foreigners in Austria have received less child benefit than people with Austrian citizenship. Those affected are employees whose children reside permanently in another EU member state in that they could live there with the other parent.

Since 2019, Austria has linked state payments to the cost of living in the countries in which the children live.

Source: Tagesschau