WRITTEN QUESTION E-2234/02

by Ria Oomen-Ruijten (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(23 July 2002)

Subject: Study grants for the children of frontier workers

With regard to the award of study grants to children of frontier workers, a large number of problems have already been resolved. However, a few problems are still outstanding, and they need to be regulated more effectively.

1. Can the Commission indicate whether the Netherlands, as a Member State of the EU, may terminate the award of a Netherlands study grant to the child of a Belgian (or German) frontier worker employed in the Netherlands if the said frontier worker is obliged to terminate his/her employment on the grounds of incapacity for work or invalidity or if he/she is made redundant?

2. Can the Commission indicate whether the Netherlands, as a Member State of the EU, may withhold study grants from children who are studying in the Netherlands and are members of a family living in the Netherlands, all the members of which hold Belgian (or German) nationality and in which the father is employed as a frontier worker in Belgium (or Germany), on the grounds that the children do not hold Dutch nationality?

3. Can the Commission indicate why the entitlement of Dutch students to the award of a grant to study in neighbouring countries (except forWallonia) is restricted to higher education and is not available for senior secondary vocational education?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(16 September 2002)

1. The Honourable Member has asked whether the Commission believes it is compatible with Community law for the Netherlands to withdraw the right to a study grant for a frontier worker's child when the parent loses his or her job on the grounds of incapacity for work or redundancy. In this instance the Commission would like to refer to the Meeussen case (C-337/97)(1), according to which the child of a frontier worker can rely on Article 7(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68(2) to obtain funding for studies under the same conditions as those applied to the children of nationals of the State of employment. However, for the children of workers who have lost their jobs on the grounds of incapacity or redundancy, the Court of Justice has said that, as former frontier workers are not

currently engaged in an employment relationship, they cannot thereby claim to acquire new rights having no links with their former occupation (Leclere judgment (C-43/99)(3), point 59). However, it may be deduced from this case law that rights already acquired, as a migrant worker or the child of a migrant worker, must be preserved.

2. The case to which the Honourable Member refers in the second question concerns families of Belgian (or German) nationality living in the Netherlands, whose father is a frontier worker in Belgium or Germany. In this case the child cannot invoke Article 7 of Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68 in relation to the Netherlands, as neither parent works in the Netherlands. However, this clearly refers to families of EU citizens who have exercised the right conferred on them by the EC Treaty to reside in a Member State other than their state of origin (Article 18, EC Treaty). Members of these families can therefore rely on Article 12 of the EC Treaty, which prohibits discrimination on grounds of nationality, for all the advantages which fall within the scope of Community law (see in particular Grzelczyk (C-184/99)(4) and D'Hoop (C-224/98) judgments(5)). It follows from the answer to the first question that the right to study grants in the Netherlands falls within the scope of Community law. The children of the families concerned are therefore entitled to funding for studies under the same conditions as those applied to the children of Dutch nationals in the same situation.

3. The Commission does not know why Dutch students' entitlement to grants to study in neighbouring countries is restricted to higher education and excludes senior secondary vocational education. On this point, it is up to the Member States to independently lay down the conditions for acquiring and maintaining the right to benefits such as study grants, provided these conditions comply with Community law, in particular the ban on discrimination on grounds of nationality. This latter principle does not appear to be infringed in the case mentioned in the third question.

The Commission has contacted the authorities in the Netherlands to ask their opinion on whether the cases referred to in questions 1 and 2 do not constitute discrimination on grounds of nationality, which would mean they were incompatible with Community law. The Commission will keep the Honourable Member informed of the outcome of this inquiry.

(1) Judgment of 8 June 1999, ECR 1999, I-3289.

(2) Council Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68 of 15 October 1968 on freedom of movement for workers within the Community, OJ L 257, 19.10.1968.

(3) Judgment of 31 May 2001, ECR 2001, I-4265.

(4) Judgment of 20 September 2001, ECR 2001, page I-6193.

(5) Judgment of 11 July 2002, not yet published.