Noémie Depesme and Others v Ministre de l'Enseignement supérieur et de la recherche.
Date: 2016-12-15
34


As a preliminary point, it must be recalled that Article 45(2) TFEU provides that freedom of movement for workers is to entail the abolition of any discrimination based on nationality as regards employment, remuneration and other conditions of work and employment (judgment of 20 June 2013, Giersch and Others, C‑20/12, EU:C:2013:411, paragraph 34).
35


The Court has held that Article 7(2) of Regulation No 1612/68, the wording of which was reproduced in Article 7(2) of Regulation No 492/2011, is the particular expression, in the specific area of the grant of social advantages, of the principle of equal treatment enshrined in Article 45(2) TFEU, and must be accorded the same interpretation as that provision (see judgments of 23 February 2006, Commission v Spain, C‑205/04, not published, EU:C:2006:137, paragraph 15; of 11 September 2007, Hendrix, C‑287/05, EU:C:2007:494, paragraph 53; and of 20 June 2013, Giersch and Others, C‑20/12, EU:C:2013:411, paragraph 35).
37


The Court has repeatedly held that, in relation to Article 7(2) of Regulation No 1612/68, that provision equally benefits both migrant workers resident in a host Member State and frontier workers employed in that Member State while residing in another Member State (see judgments of 18 July 2007, Geven, C‑213/05, EU:C:2007:438, paragraph 15; of 14 June 2012, Commission v Netherlands, C‑542/09, EU:C:2012:346, paragraph 33; of 20 June 2013, Giersch and Others, C‑20/12, EU:C:2013:411, paragraph 37; and of 14 December 2016, Bragança Linares Verruga and Others, C‑238/15, EU:C:2016:949, paragraph 39).
38


Furthermore, according to settled case-law, assistance granted for maintenance and education in order to pursue university studies evidenced by a professional qualification constitutes a social advantage within the meaning of Article 7(2) of Regulation No 1612/68 (judgments of 20 June 2013, Giersch and Others, C‑20/12, EU:C:2013:411, paragraph 38, and of 14 December 2016, Bragança Linares Verruga and Others, C‑238/15, EU:C:2016:949, paragraph 40 and the case-law cited).
39


The Court has also found that study finance granted by a Member State to the children of workers constitutes, for the migrant worker, a social advantage within the meaning of Article 7(2) of Regulation No 1612/68, where the worker continues to support the child (judgment of 20 June 2013, Giersch and Others, C‑20/12, EU:C:2013:411, paragraph 39 and the case-law cited).
40


Moreover, according to the case-law of the Court, the members of a migrant worker’s family are the indirect recipients of the equal treatment granted to the worker under Article 7(2) of Regulation No 1612/68. Since the grant of funding for studies to a child of a migrant worker constitutes a social advantage for the migrant worker, that child may himself rely on that provision in order to obtain that funding if, under national law, such funding is granted directly to the student (judgment of 20 June 2013, Giersch and Others, C‑20/12, EU:C:2013:411, paragraph 40 and the case-law cited).
44


The Court interpreted that provision as meaning that both the descendants of that worker and those of his spouse had the right to install themselves with that worker. To give a restrictive interpretation to that provision, to the effect that only the children common to the migrant worker and his spouse enjoyed that right, would have failed to have regard to the aim of integration of members of the families of migrant workers pursued by Regulation No 1612/68 (see, to that effect, judgment of 17 September 2002, Baumbast and R, C‑413/99, EU:C:2002:493, paragraph 57).
45


Furthermore, the Court has previously held that the members of a worker’s family, who qualify indirectly for the equal treatment accorded to migrant workers by Article 7 of Regulation No 1612/68, were family members within the meaning of Article 10 of Regulation No 1612/68 (see, to that effect, judgment of 18 June 1987, Lebon, 316/85, EU:C:1987:302, paragraph 12).
52


Moreover, the fact that the term ‘child of a frontier worker’, who is able to benefit indirectly from the principle of equality enshrined in Article 7(2) of Regulation No 492/2011, should be interpreted in the light of the concept of ‘family members’ as defined by the case-law of the Court in relation to Regulation No 1612/68 and restated in Article 2 of Directive 2004/38, is borne out by Directive 2014/54, the deadline for transposition into national law of which expired on 21 May 2016.
53


It is clear from recital 1 of Directive 2014/54, under which the free movement of workers ‘is further developed by Union law aiming to guarantee the full exercise of rights conferred on Union citizens and the members of their family’, that the expression ‘“members of their family” should be understood as having the same meaning as the term defined in point (2) of Article 2 of Directive [2004/38], which applies also to family members of frontier workers’.
54


Under Article 2(2) of Directive 2014/54, the scope of that directive is identical to that of Regulation No 492/2011. Under to Article 1 of Directive 2014/54, the subject matter of that directive moreover consists of provisions to facilitate the uniform application and enforcement in practice of the rights conferred by Article 45 TFEU and by Articles 1 to 10 of Regulation No 492/2011.
58


The Court took the view that the status of dependent member of a family, within the meaning of Article 10 of Regulation No 1612/68, did not presuppose a right to maintenance. If that were the case, the composition of the family that Article 10 provided for would depend on national legislation, which varies from one State to another, and that would lead to a lack of uniformity in the application of EU law. The Court therefore interpreted Article 10(1) and (2) of Regulation No 1612/68 as meaning that the status of dependent member of a family is the result of a factual situation. The person having that status is a member of the family who is supported by the worker and there is no need to determine the reasons for recourse to the worker’s support or to raise the question whether the person concerned is able to support himself by taking up paid employment. That interpretation is dictated by the principle that the provisions establishing the free movement of workers, which constitutes one of the foundations of the Union, must be construed broadly (see, to that effect, judgment of 18 June 1987, Lebon, 316/85, EU:C:1987:302, paragraphs 21 to 23).
64


In the light of all the above considerations, the answer to the question referred is that Article 45 TFEU and Article 7(2) of Regulation No 492/2011 must be interpreted as meaning that a child of a frontier worker, who is able to benefit indirectly from the social advantages referred to in the latter provision, such as study finance granted by a Member State to the children of workers pursuing or who have pursued an activity in that Member State, means not only a child who has a child-parent relationship with that worker, but also a child of the spouse or registered partner of that worker, where that worker supports that child. The latter requirement is the result of a factual situation, which it is for the national authorities and, if appropriate, the national courts, to assess, and it is not necessary for them to determine the reasons for that contribution or make a precise estimation of its amount.