Judge backs EU student on loan

Report of the Opinion of the Advocate General in a case brought in the European Court of Justice. Dany Bidar, from France, challenged Ealing Borough Council's decision to refuse him a student loan, saying it was discrimination by nationality. The council argued that, even though he had been in the UK three years, he was not 'settled'. The ECJ judgment is expected in the spring of 2005. Advocate General Geelhoed suggests that following the introduction of EU citizenship by the Maastricht Treaty, assistance with maintenance costs for students attending university courses in the form of loans or grants falls within the scope no longer outside the scope of the of the EC Treaty.

European Court of Justice: Press Release, No.92, 2004 http://curia.europa.eu/en/actu/communiques/cp04/aff/cp040092en.pdf

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