Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2011:283
Date: 2011-05-05
Language of the case: German
Court formation: Fifth Chamber
Subject matter: Social security for migrant workers
Procedure: Action for failure to fulfil obligations - successful
Origin: Germany

Summary of the Judgment 1. Social security for migrant workers – European Union legislation – Substantive scope – Sickness benefits – Definition (Council Regulation No 1408/71, Art. 4(1)(a)) 2. Freedom of movement for persons – Workers – Equal treatment – Social advantages (Council Regulation No 1612/68, Art. 7(2)) 1. A benefit is regarded as a social security benefit when it is granted, without any individual, discretionary assessment of personal needs, to recipients on the basis of a statutorily defined position and relates to one of the risks expressly listed in Article 4(1) of Regulation No 1408/71. It follows that benefits granted objectively on the basis of a statutorily defined position and intended to improve the state of health and quality of life of persons reliant on care have as their essential purpose the supplementing of sickness insurance benefits and must therefore be regarded as ‘sickness benefits’ for the purpose of Article 4(1)(a) of that regulation. Such is the position as regards the benefits paid by certain Länder of the Federal Republic of Germany to the blind, the deaf and the disabled, inasmuch as since they are intended to compensate, in the form of a flat-rate contribution, for the additional everyday expenditure resulting from the recipients’ disability. (see paras 27-29) 2. The equal treatment rule which appears in Article 7 of Regulation No 1612/68 on freedom of movement for workers within the Community prohibits not only overt discrimination on grounds of nationality but also all covert forms of discrimination which, by the application of other criteria of differentiation, lead in fact to the same result. Unless it is objectively justified and proportionate to the aim pursued, a provision of national law must be regarded as indirectly discriminatory if it is intrinsically liable to affect migrant workers more than national workers and if there is a consequent risk that it will place the former at a particular disadvantage. That is the case of a residence condition laid down in national legislation for the grant of benefits for the blind, the deaf and the disabled, which can be more easily satisfied by national workers than by those from other Member States. (see paras 34-38)