Action brought on 1 October 2024 – European Commission v Federal Republic of Germany

(Case C-642/24)

(C/2024/6642)

Language of the case: German

Parties

Applicant: European Commission (represented by: B.-R. Killmann, E. Schmidt, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Federal Republic of Germany

Form of order sought

The Commission claims that the Court should:

Pleas in law and main arguments

First, the European Commission alleges that the Federal Republic of Germany infringed Articles 7 and 67 of Regulation No 883/2004. The family allowance, as granted by the Free State of Bavaria, is a family benefit within the meaning of that regulation. The abovementioned provisions prohibit making the grant or the amount of family benefits dependent on family members of a worker residing in the Member State providing the benefits. However, the Free State of Bavaria provides for a reduction in the amount of family allowance for children, if they resided in 15 exhaustively listed Member States outside Germany. The Free State of Bavaria therefore treats family benefits for children precisely according to the Member State in which those children resided and not as if they resided in Germany.

Second, the Commission claims that the Federal Republic of Germany failed to comply with the principle of equal treatment, as set out in Article 4 of Regulation No 833/2004 and in Article 7(2) of Regulation No 492/2011. By reducing the family allowance for children residing in the 15 exhaustively listed Member States, the Free State of Bavaria treats persons differently depending on where their children reside, and, in particular, worse, if those children reside in one of the 15 exhaustively listed Member States. Ultimately, this gives rise to indirect discrimination to the detriment of migrant workers from those Member States which does not appear to be justified by any legitimate objective.

(1)  Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the coordination of social security systems (OJ 2004 L 166, p. 1).

(2)  Regulation (EU) No 492/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2011 on freedom of movement for workers within the Union (OJ 2011 L 141, p. 1).