adminBrussels. — A European Court of Justice ruling backing Germany’s attempts to restrict unemployed migrants’ rights to welfare has been welcomed by David Cameron.
The UK prime minister said the decision on so-called “benefit tourism”, which could set a precedent for other EU nations, was “simple common sense”.
It could allow the UK to exclude some EU migrants from specific benefits.
Mr Cameron is under pressure to reduce EU migration and will outline his plans by the end of the year.
He has called for reforms to the principle of free movement of people within the EU – but has been told an “arbitrary cap” on numbers will not be accepted.
The BBC’s assistant political editor Norman Smith said the government — so often at odds with the European Court of Justice in the past — was hailing the ruling as endorsing Mr Cameron’s approach to reforming the EU.
But he said the “huge caveat” was that the decision could also be used to show “a big shake-up” of the system was not needed.
The government has already tightened the rules so EU migrants have to wait three months after arriving in the UK before they can claim child benefit and child tax credits. Migrants are also barred from claiming job-seeker’s allowance after three months if they are not looking for work, and the prime minister has said he wants to go further.
He said the European court’s ruling was “significant”, adding: “It’s a good step in the right direction”. — BBC.
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