Preventing “benefit tourism” in the EU: A narrow or broad interpretation of the possibilities offered by the ECJ in Dano?

Abstract

This article contributes to the debate on the boundaries of national solidarity systems in the context of the free movement of persons in the EU. It analyses the impact of the ECJ's judgment in Dano on the entitlement to social benefits of economically inactive Union citizens. First, it summarizes the legal discussion so far held on this issue and highlights the questions that remained open after earlier case law of the Court. Next, it explains why a narrow interpretation of the limitation of the principle of equal treatment allowed by the Court is the only acceptable one if legal coherence is to be preserved. It also analyses the consequences of a broad interpretation, arguing that this would undermine the very principle of free movement as a fundamental right, the principle of proportionality as well as the Union's policy objectives of combating poverty and social exclusion.