Is There a Way Where There’s a Will? The Tensions between the Court’s Case Law and the Pillar in Delimiting Transnational Solidarity

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 509-539
Author(s):  
Ane Aranguiz ◽  
Miriam Quené

Abstract European citizenship has often served as a proxy for political visions of far-reaching social integration within the EU. Over the last years, this has been challenged by a number of judgments of the CJEU, which appear to increasingly restrict the access of economically inactive mobile EU citizens to social benefits under the Citizens Directive. By contrast, the more recent European Pillar of Social Rights enshrines the right to a minimum income for all citizens of the Union, regardless of their economic status or the legality of their residence. This article aims to address the resulting asymmetry between the Pillar and the CJEU’s current interpretation of the Citizens Directive, examining whether and to what extent the former could influence the latter. In doing so, it will discuss the background, objectives and interpretation of the Citizens Directive’s right to equal treatment, examine the scope of the minimum income principle contained in the Pillar, and highlight the key differences between the two.

2012 ◽  
pp. 475-511
Author(s):  
Federico Casolari

Law Although EU law has established a general framework concerning the fight against discriminations on the grounds of religion (namely as far as equal treatment in employment and occupation is concerned), the related ECJ case law is not very rich. This article tracks and evaluates the impact of the ECHR case law devoted to the freedom of religion on the interpretation and application of EU law concerning religion discriminations. It argues that the ECHR case law may contribute to identify the notion of ‘religion' which is relevant for EU law, while several arguments may be put forward against the application of the Strasbourg approach to the balancing between the right to quality based on religion and others human rights into the EU legal order.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 370-385
Author(s):  
Vincenzo Ferrante

The European Union competences on health and safety of workplace constituted the legal basis for the 93/104 Directive to be adopted (and for the consolidated text of 2003/88 Directive). The Court of Justice has firmly maintained this approach refusing to take into account the history of international regulation on working time, which links together work and salary in perspective to give the workers the right to fair and equal treatment as regards their working conditions (as has been recently proclaimed also by the European Pillar of Social Rights). Building on these general premises, this article analyses the more recent European pieces of legislation and cases related to on-call time and proposes a new model for the definition of working time in the light of CJEU case law.


2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-80
Author(s):  
Rui Lanceiro

Since its inception, the concept of EU citizenship, as well as the rights and duties deriving therefrom, has evolved considerably, particularly in the area of social rights. ECJ case law has played a central role in defining the right of EU citizens to access social benefits in the host Member States, which meant a decrease in their degree of discretion to restrict the access to national social securities systems. However, the recent Dano and Alimanovic judgments represent a significant change from previous case-law, setting limits on the right of EU citizens to social benefits in the host Member States. The right of residence in another Member State appears to be dependent on the status of a worker citizen in accordance with the new methodology in order to avoid being an excessive burden on the social system of the host Member State. However, the new approach still leaves several unanswered questions. Were these decisions an attempt to address the “social security tourism” debate? Is the CJEU falling behind with regard to the protection of social rights? What will remain of previous jurisprudence?


Author(s):  
Elspeth Guild ◽  
Steve Peers ◽  
Jonathan Tomkin

This chapter details the right of residence provided for in the citizens’ Directive. The citizens’ Directive regulates and gives detailed expression to the right of free movement and residence conferred by the Treaties on Union citizens. At its simplest, the Directive regulates residence on the basis of the intended duration of a stay in another Member State. The chapter then evaluates case law which concerns the relationship between the right to equal treatment, on the one hand, and the right of residence, on the other, and whether mobile Union citizens could rely on the principle of equality as a basis for claiming a right to access social benefits and maintaining a right to reside in a host Member State.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (100) ◽  
pp. 1209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Encarna Carmona Cuenca

Resumen:El Convenio Europeo de Derechos Humanos no reconoce expresamente los derechos sociales de prestación (a excepción del derecho a la educación). A pesar de ello, el Tribunal de Estrasburgo ha realizado una interpretación extensiva de los derechos civiles y políticos reconocidos para incluir, de diversas formas, la protección de aquellos derechos. Una de las técnicas utilizadas ha sido la doctrina de las obligaciones positivas del Estado. Aunque el Tribunal ha aplicado esta doctrina, fundamentalmente, a los derechos civiles y políticos, podemos encontrar algunas resoluciones en las que establece determinadas obligaciones positivas estatales para proteger derechos como la protección de la salud, la vivienda, la protección social o la protección de las personas con discapacidad. En general, se trata de reconocimientos generales y poco concretos pero, en algunos casos, ha detallado cuáles son estas obligaciones. Esto lo ha hecho, en primer lugar, en casos en que se habían producido daños cuya responsabilidad era directa o indirectamente del Estado. En segundo lugar, cuando se trataba de personas que se encontraban bajo la tutela del Estado, como las personas detenidas o internas en prisiones. Y, en tercer lugar, cuando los afectados eran personas especialmente vulnerables (discapacitados o pertenecientes a la minoría gitana). Aunque se trata de una interpretación incipiente y poco desarrollada, muestra un camino en el que se debería profundizar en el futuro. Es generalmente admitido que son los Estados quienes deben tener la iniciativa en el diseño y establecimiento de los derechos sociales de prestación pero, en caso de conductas y omisiones estatales manifiestamente contrarias a los estándares internacionales, el Tribunal Europeo debería obligar a los Estados mediante sus sentencias a dictar una legislación o establecer políticas que hagan efectivos estos derechos.El artículo consta de una introducción, cuatro epígrafes de contenido y una conclusión final. En el segundo epígrafe se aborda la cuestión de la problemática justiciabilidad de los derechos sociales de prestación. En el tercero se hace referencia a la doctrina de las obligaciones positivas del Estado en la jurisprudencia del TEDH. En el cuarto se apuntan las principales técnicas que ha utilizado el TEDH para proteger los derechos sociales de prestación y, en particular, la extensión del contenido de algunos derechos civiles y políticos. En el quinto epígrafe se analiza cómo se ha utilizado la técnica de las obligacionespositivas del Estado en la protección de los derechos sociales de prestación y, en concreto, del derecho a la protección de la salud y del derecho a la vivienda.Summary:1. Introduction. 2. The social rights of assistance and its problematic justiciability. 3. The positive obligations of the state in the case lawof the ECtHR. 4. The protection techniques of the social rights of assistance in the case law of the ECtHR. 4.1. General approach. 4.2. Application of the prohibition of discrimination of article 14 ECtHR to certain social benefits. 4.3. Extension of the content of several rights recognized in the Convention. 5. In particular: the protection of social rights of assistance through the doctrine of the positive obligations of the state. 5.1. The right to health protection. 5.2. Theright to housing. 6. By way of conclusion.Abstract:The European Convention on Human Rights does not expressly recognize any social rights of assistance (except the right to education). In spite of this, the Strasbourg Court has made a broad interpretation of recognized civil and political rights to include, in different ways, the protection of those rights. One of the techniques used by the Court has been the doctrine of the State's positive obligations under the ECHR. Although the Court has essentially applied this doctrine to the civil and political rights, we can find some resolutions in which it establishes certain positive state obligations to protect rights such as protection of health, housing, social benefits or protection of people with disabilities. Generally, these are general and not very specific recognitions, but in some cases, they have detailed what these obligations are.Firstly, this has been done in cases where there was damage which was directly or indirectly the responsibility of the State. Secondly, regarding people who were under the protection of the State, such as persons detained or interned in prisons. And, thirdly, when those affected were particularly vulnerable (disabled or belonging to the Roma minority). Although it is an incipient and underdeveloped interpretation, it shows a way in which should be further deepened. It is generally accepted that it is the States that must take the initiative in designing and establishing social rights of assistance but, inthe case of state conduct and omissions that are manifestly contrary to international standards, the European Court should oblige States with their judgements to enact legislation or develop policies to give effect to these rights.The article consists of an introduction, four content epigraphs and a final conclusion. The second section deals with the question of the problematic justiciability of social rights of assistance. The third refers to the doctrine of the positive obligations of the State in the Case Law of the ECtHR. The fourth section outlines the main techniques used by the ECtHR to protect the social rights of assistance and, in particular, expanding the scope of some civil and political rights. The fifth section analyzes the use of the technique of positive obligationsof the State in the protection of social rights of assistance and, in particular, the right to protection of health and the right to housing.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 364-390
Author(s):  
Sacha Garben

The EU legal order recognises at its highest level both fundamental social rights/freedoms and economic rights/freedoms. As is well-known, it is in the cases where these have had to be balanced against one another, that profound legal and political difficulties have appeared over the years, feeding into a more general concern about an asymmetry between social and economic values and outcomes in the European integration process. While we need to be careful not to overstate the extent of conflict, it deserves to be reiterated that there remain a number of important ‘social sore spots’ that despite sustained academic and political critique, and despite some adjustments in the Court’s approach, continue to emerge and challenge the EU’s social legitimacy. The EU’s approach towards the right to strike and bargain collectively in relation to the internal market provisions on the free provision of services and establishment, which has not only met with criticism internally but has also been considered at odds with international social rights, remains problematic in spite of the CJEU’s more recent ‘conciliatory’ case law. Moreover, relatively recent (r)evolutions in the case law as regards the freedom to conduct a business have raised important new tensions. In accordance with its brief, this article maps these frictions and, more importantly, considers how the adjudication of these rights could be conducted differently. In this regard, it argues that the most appropriate alternative approach is one not directed at procuring more ‘social’ outcomes as such, but instead one that provides a more constitutionally and democratically legitimate framework of adjudication of fundamental rights generally, and social and economic rights specifically. Indeed, while this paper therefore shares the fundamental ambition of some other thought-provoking approaches proposed recently to provide the European judiciary with an alternative framework for the balancing of social and economic rights, the proposal of this paper is different in the importance it attaches to democracy. Democracy shall be the guiding concern in the proposed framework, not only by ensuring that the extent to which these rights are enforced against the national and European legislative process remains limited to what is necessary, but also in providing the dominant telos that should inform the substantive interpretation of these rights.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 390-402
Author(s):  
Herwig Verschueren

This article examines whether the EU social security coordination Regulations 883/2004 and 987/2009 contribute or fail to contribute to the EU policy objective of guaranteeing adequate social protection and fighting against poverty as set by Article 9 TFEU. Even if this coordination system does not directly interfere with the social protection systems of the Member States, it plays an important role in preventing persons who use the right to free movement within the EU from ending up in a situation in which they would lose entitlement to social benefits because of their migration. In analysing this issue I will concentrate on the role of the underlying general principles of this coordination, more specifically, on the rules for the determination of the applicable legislation, the principle of equal treatment, the export of benefits and the aggregation of periods. I will also elaborate on a number of examples where this coordination system fails to prevent the loss of entitlement to social benefits, such as the position of workers in non-standard forms of work, the limited rights of economically inactive migrants, the recent introduction of waiting periods for newcomers, and situations in which the migrants risk falling between two stools. I will conclude with the notion of fairness.


2015 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 110-120
Author(s):  
Daniela Guimarães

This article seeks to analyse the impact of the Court of Justice of the European Union’s (CJEU) decision in the Dano judgement concerning the free movement of EU citizens and their cross-border access to social benefits. The debate about social tourism or welfare migration has been acrimonious in the last years. The Member States face new challenges concerning the possibility of excluding economically inactive European Union (EU) citizens from other Member States from special non-contributory social benefits. However, if on one hand we have the need to protect the financial sustainability of the Member States, as non-active EU citizens from other Member States can represent a burden on their social assistance systems, on the other hand, we also need to respect one of the EU’s most basilar principles: the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of nationality. The CJEU has decided that the economically nonactive citizens of other Member States can only claim equal treatment in regard to access to social benefits, when they have a right of residence under Directive 2004/38 in the host Member State.


2021 ◽  
pp. 177-229
Author(s):  
Jan Wouters ◽  
Frank Hoffmeister ◽  
Geert De Baere ◽  
Thomas Ramopoulos

This chapter provides an overview of the sanctions that are available to the EU in the conduct of its foreign policy. First, it focuses on EU restrictive measures or sanctions analysing the applicable provisions and procedure for their adoption under the EU Treaties before making a systematic presentation of the different regimes adopted by the Union and their link to UN sanctions. The chapter also delves into the large corpus of case law on the compliance of sanctions with fundamental rights, in particular procedural rights, such as the rights of defence and the right to effective judicial protection, and substantive rights, such as the right to carry out an economic activity and right to property. A section is also dedicated to the constantly developing case law on actions for damages from sanctions. Sanctions adopted by the Union within the framework of cooperation and association agreements for the violation of certain essential elements of these agreements are also analysed. Lastly, a discussion of the specific case of the blocking statute, an autonomous measure adopted to counter extraterritorial effects of legislation and actions of third states, which was recently updated, forms part of this chapter.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document