The CJEU secures asylum seekers' right to family housing

Steve PeersWhat obligations do Member States have to ensure that asylum-seeking families are housed adequately? The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has today usefully clarified the minimum standards which Member States must observe on this issue, in its judgment in Saciri. This judgment is a welcome confirmation that whatever the practical difficulties facing Member States in managing their reception for asylum-seekers, families...

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Non-EU benefit claimants and implications for the EU's relations with Switzerland

Steve PeersEven the most xenophobic of British tabloids is unlikely to greet today's judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) with the headline, 'Scrounging Swiss'. Yet the judgment, concerning the correct legal base of an EU measure extending revised social security rules to Swiss citizens, raises interesting questions concerning the extension of social security rules to third states in general, and on the EU's relations with...

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Counterfeiting the euro: The EU legislature applies the principle of ineffectiveness

Steve PeersIn some of its key judgments concerning EU criminal law, most notably Pupino and its judgments on the legal base for environmental crime legislation, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has attempted to strengthen the principle of effectiveness in this area. However, the EU legislature has recently agreed on a new Directive on counterfeiting the euro, which could only be described as an application of the principle of...

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Is the European Union an ideal worth dying for? Thoughts on the future of Ukraine and the EU

Steve PeersUndoubtedly there were many reasons to find fault with the Yanukovych government of Ukraine, but the catalyst for start of the protests which ultimately brought his government down was his refusal to sign an association agreement with the European Union. Some of the protesters killed last week were even flying the Union flag. Let's assume that fresh elections are held, as planned, in the near future (on the same day as the European Parliament...

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Is the UK's restriction on EU workers' access to benefits legal - and if not, should it be?

Steve PeersToday the UK government has announced a new threshold for determining whether an EU citizen from another Member State is actually a 'worker' or not, for the purposes of claiming benefits. Are these rules compatible with EU law on the free movement of workers? And if not, should EU law be changed so that they are?According to the new UK rules, to obtain 'worker' status, citizens from other Member States will have to earn £150/week for at...

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The EU’s common rules on detention: how serious are Member States about protecting fundamental rights?

By Debbie Sayers, Legal Research Consultant, http://interalia.org.uk On 5 February 2014, the Commission published a damning report on its ‘common rules on detention’ confirming that, at best, only 18 of 28 Member States have implemented any of the instruments. This is a quantitative not qualitative study: there has been no evaluation of how well these rules have been applied or whether they have improved the lot of individuals. The poor level of...

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Family Reunion for EU citizens living in their own Member State: Clarifying the Surinder Singh and Carpenter judgments

Chiara Berneri, Lecturer at BPP Law SchoolWhen can an EU citizen who lives in his or her own Member State claim a right under EU law to be joined by his or her family members? The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) finally has a chance to clarify its judgments in Surinder Singh and Carpenter, concerning respectively family reunion for EU citizens who move to another Member State and then return to their home State (‘returnees’), and family...

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The EU’s Data Retention Directive: Fighting Back against mass surveillance in the EU’s Court of Justice

Steve PeersI’m writing this post on ‘The Day We Fight Back’ against mass surveillance. So it seems a suitable day to comment (a bit belatedly) on the Advocate-General’s opinion from last December on the validity of the EU’s data retention Directive (Directive 2006/24; Cases C-293/12 Digital Rights and C-594/12 Seitlinger). Overall contextThese cases, referred from the Irish and Austrian courts, present the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) with its...

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