UK - Cameron - EU Migrants & Benefits Reforms

July 29, 2014 12:18 am David Cameron to halve time that EU migrants can claim benefits By George Parker and Helen Warrell David Cameron will announce plans on Tuesday to halve the time that European migrants can claim British benefits, in a drive to stop what he claims is welfare tourism. Mr Cameron will say that from November migrant workers will only be allowed to claim benefits for a maximum of three months, compared with the current six month limit. New rules also require migrants to wait three months before they can claim benefits. ... Downing Street insists that the new rules are compliant with EU law and go with the grain of reforms being pursued in other countries including Germany and France. However, neither Paris nor Berlin support Mr Cameron’s ambition to reform free movement rights generally. ... The UK’s stance on immigration has prompted criticisms from Brussels, with Viviane Reding, EU justice commissioner, suggesting this year that the UK’s immigration debate was “emotional and populist”. She added that discussions in Westminster often ignored the fact that the UK was the biggest exporter of people to the rest of the EU. The UK government has been unable to produce evidence of benefit tourism and has been criticised for not collecting adequate data. A European Commission report published last year found that when all unemployment benefits were totalled, the UK was the only EU member state where there were fewer beneficiaries among migrants – of whom 1 per cent were claiming – than among nationals, where the figure was 4 per cent. [What of other benefits?] http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c737e1b6-1676-11e4-a5c7-00144feabdc0.html

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