Italian welfare residency rules discriminatory – EU Court

European Union (EU) top court ruled on Monday that Italy’s residency rules for a welfare programme discriminated against foreigners, even when the same rules applied to Italian citizens.

The case concerns two long-term residents of Italy from outside the EU, who were fined for falsely declaring that they met the residency criteria for a now-abolished welfare programme.

Though the programme was called the “citizenship income,” it was available to non-Italians who met the same eligibility criteria as Italians.

The law required applicants to have lived in Italy for at least 10 years in total, including the last two consecutive years.

The residency requirement applied equally to Italian citizens, other EU citizens, and non-EU citizens lawfully resident in Italy.

But the European Court of Justice ruled that such equal treatment was discriminatory.

The court said that even though it was the same rule for Italians and foreigners, the result primarily affects non-nationals, notably including third country (non-EU) nationals.

The EU court also said that the fact that Italians who return to Italy after a period abroad were similarly affected is “irrelevant,”

The judges reasoned that a measure can be considered indirect discrimination without it being necessary for it to favour all nationals or to disadvantage only third-country nationals who are long-term resident.

The court ruled that when a condition violates the EU’s rules for non-EU citizens who are long-term residents, EU countries cannot punish people who lie about meeting such a condition.

The court’s judgment is essentially an answer to questions referred to it by the Italian judiciary, where the rest of the case will be decided.

ECJ judgments are final and cannot be appealed.