The Court of Justice’s social security ruling could strengthen the EU’s position in negotiations with Switzerland over free movement

A proposal to reintroduce immigration quotas in Switzerland was passed in a referendum earlier in February 2014. The referendum created significant public attention, not least because revoking free movement rights for EU citizens would undermine existing Swiss-EU agreements.

As Steve Peers writes, an issue which has received altogether less attention is a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union on the 27 February 2014 on the access of Swiss citizens to EU social security systems. He notes that although the issue is fairly incidental in terms of the potential burden on EU welfare systems, the ruling may strengthen the EU’s position in its upcoming negotiations with Switzerland over free movement.

ECJ: Judgement in ECJ Case C‑656/11 (27.02.14) http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=148381&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=req&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=223602

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