Post by Focus on May 30, 2013 9:08:00 GMT
THE EU is set to take Britain to court over its attempts to tackle migrants' entitlement to benefits.
In news that is sure to spark fury from eurosceptics and put further pressure on the already tumultuous Tories, the European Commission has demanded Britain relax its rules on welfare payments to EU nationals.
The UK is to be taken to the European Court of Justice
Since 2004, Britain has required them to be formal residents of the UK in order to claim state handouts – which the Commission has insisted breaks EU rules.
Nationals from member states should be entitled the same access to benefits as UK citizens, the Commission has claimed.
It is alleged that Britain's actions could have prevented migrants working and living in the UK from claiming some benefits.
As a result, the Commission is taking Britain to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg in a landmark case.
If the EU is successful in its claims, the UK may have to pay hundreds of millions of pounds a year to EU nationals who visit Britain.
Peter Lilley, a Conservative MP and former Social Security Secretary, said the European Commission's intervention would be "costly, unwelcome and undemocratic".
Responding to the news, a Government spokesman said the right to reside test was a "vital and fair tool" to ensure benefits are only paid to people who are legally allowed to live in Britain.
"It is absolutely imperative that we do all we can to protect our benefits system from abuse by migrants," he said.
"The 'right to reside' part of our habitual residence test is a vital and fair tool to ensure that benefits are only paid to people who are legally allowed to live in Britain.
"We have always been clear that we believe our rules are in line with EU law."
The row over the EU has led many to question David Cameron's leadership
The news is sure to put additional pressure on the Prime Minister in a month where the Tories have faced deep divisions in the party over Europe after the UK Independence Party's surge in support in the local elections.
Eurosceptic Tory MPs have challenged the Government to amend its own Queen's Speech to enshrine in law the Prime Minister's promise to hold an in-out referendum on EU membership by 2017.
In the House of Commons, more than 110 Tories voted for the amendment, but it was defeated.
Mr Cameron has said he wants to renegotiate Britain's relationship with the EU before putting the country's membership to a vote.
But senior Tories, including Lord Lawson and Michael Portillo, have said Britain should get out of the EU.
The row has led many to question Mr Cameron's leadership, with Lord Howe saying he was "losing control" of his party.
Stephen Booth, research director of the think tank Open Europe, said the latest row is over EU nationals having to "jump through the extra hoop" of a right to reside test before getting benefits, while UK citizens do not.
He said the right to reside test is part of a wider habitual residence test that UK citizens also have to pass to access benefits, but unless they had recently lived abroad it is mainly a formality.
Mr Booth warned that the Commission could undermine public confidence in the principle of free movement within the EU by being "legally fundamentalist".
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "What is also important to understand here is the UK has a particular welfare system that is universalist and involves lots of means tested benefits, unlike on the continent where a lot of it is based on contributions.
"So we have a system that needs safeguards in order to ensure that only people who are eligible can claim benefits and that's what the right to reside is meant to ensure."
He went on: "I think the Commission is kind of stretching, over-reaching here, being kind of legally fundamentalist and I think has the risk of really undermining any public confidence in the idea of free movement."
WTF?? - AND THIS PETALS IS WHY CAMERON MUST GET OUT OF THE EU, GREAT BRITAIN HAS MORE THAN ENOUGH FREELOADERS ALREADY THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!! - Fx
