SOCIAL SECURITY : BELGIUM AND SPAIN TAKEN TO COURT FOR DISCRIMINATION.

• Position: Brief article

The European Commission announced, on 16 February, its decision to take Belgium and Spain to the EU Court of Justice for discrimination against pensioners.

In Belgium, several non-Belgian European citizens who worked in the Belgian Congo or Ruanda-Urundi and contributed to the Belgian social security system were not granted the same social rights as their Belgian colleagues. The Commission considers this a difference of treatment that is incompatible with the principle of non-discrimination on the basis of nationality written into the treaty (Articles 18 and 45 TFEU) and with the regulation on the coordination of social security systems (883/2004).

In Spain, European pensioners temporarily residing in the country do not have free access to medicines, unlike Spanish pensioners. This treatment is in breach of EU legislation, which provides that pensioners who reside temporarily in...