(Finance) – The European Court of Justice he failed the criteria established in 2019 for the provision of the Basic income from Italy. According to the Court, in fact, it is not right to subordinate the access of third-country nationals residing for a long period to a measure concerning social benefits, assistance or protection to the requirement of having resided in the country for at least ten years. The requirement has been defined as “discrimination live“ in the referral to Luxembourg of the Court of Naples on the subject, and on the basis of the directive the status of resident long-term provides for a 5-year uninterrupted stay for equal treatment.
The Court then specified that the Member State – Italy in this case – is also prohibited from criminally sanctioning a false declaration regarding this illegal residency requirement.
The European Court of Justice had been called upon to rule on the case of an accusation against two third country nationals long-term residents in Italy of having committed a crime by signing requests to obtain the citizen’s income, a social benefit that was later abolished on January 1, 2024. The two allegedly falsely certified that they met the requirements, including that of having resided in Italy for at least ten years, the last two of which continuously, unduly receiving 3,414 and 3,187 euros respectively. For this reason, the Court of Naples had asked the Court of Justice whether this residence requirement is in accordance with the Directive on long-term residents of third countries.
The European Court of Justice then explained that “the Residency requirement” in question for obtaining the citizen’s income “constitutes indirect discrimination against third-country nationals who are long-term residents” because, “even if this requirement also applies to national citizens, it mainly concerns foreign citizens, among whom in particular such third-country nationals figure”. The Court therefore underlined that, “in order for a third-country national to obtain the status of long-term resident”, there is a requirement of “legal and uninterrupted residence of 5 years in the territory of a Member State”, which the EU legislator considers a “sufficient period to be entitled to equal treatment with nationals of the Member State, in particular as regards measures concerning social benefits, social assistance and social protection”.
The Court will also be called upon to rule on the matter. Constitutional Courtand Italian, which was waiting for the ruling of the European Court of Justice to do so. If the Court were to rule in a similar way, the maximum theoretical expenditure – taking into account the rejected applications – would be 850 million. This is what emerges from an internal INPS document prepared in view of the ruling.