The X Case: The Influence of the Resource Requirement on Long Term Residents' Integration and National Authorities' Discretionary Powers

Abstract

In the X case (judgment of 3 October 2019, case C-302/18), the Court of Justice addressed for the first time the application of the resource requirement of the Directive 2003/09/EC, a precondition for the obtainment of the status of long-term resident by third-country nationals. In its ruling, the Court compared the provision of Art. 5, para. 1, let. a), on the Long-Term Residents Directive with the resource requirements listed in other relevant directives on legal migration. Then, the judges looked at the influence of the discretionary powers of national authorities over the achievement of the Directive’s prime objective, namely the integration of legal migrants in their host societies. This Insight focuses on the stance taken by the Court against the disproportionate use of the resource requirement by Member State, whose strictness hinders the accessibility to the status of long term residents for legal migrants and therefore their integration in the host society. Moreover, the Insight analyses the contribution of the X ruling to the creation of a needed cohesive case law on intra-EU mobility and residence rights, especially regarding resource requirements.