The European Commission announced on Thursday that it has chosen to bring Germany and Italy before the European Court of Justice (ECJ) due to practices that it believes discriminate against mobile workers. In both nations, over the past few years, family allowance schemes have been implemented that offer less to certain groups of workers compared to others. In Italy, workers must have lived in the country for at least two years to qualify for the benefit, whereas in Germany, allowances are reduced for workers whose children reside in EU countries with a lower cost of living.
"One of the core principles of the EU is the equal treatment of individuals without any differentiation based on nationality," the European Commission stated in a release. "Adhering to this fundamental principle, EU mobile workers who contribute equally to the social security system and pay the same taxes as local workers are entitled to equal social security benefits," it added.
