THE WEEK THAT WAS... (October 15, 2013)

In what EU memberstate the European Commission is less trusted? UK? No. Greece? No. Netherlands? No. Let me tell you, it is Germany! An EU official whispered recently that nowadays one hears more rude things about the Commission in Berlin than in London. And it looks like that Germany is heading for a row with ‘Brussels’ over EU migrants’ access to benefits. EU Commissioner Laszlo Andor told Der Spiegel that migration to Germany from Bulgaria and Romania ‘only involves benefits for both sides. The fuss over access to benefits is overblown.’ German politicians have responded with an unusual degree of fury. The leading political party, CDU/CSU, spokesman Hans-Peter Uhl labeled Andor’s words as ‘an outrageous denial of reality’ and … a ‘first-class frivolity’! He added that some Commissioners are as far removed from reality ‘as the moon from earth’, which is about 384.000 km, so indeed a considerable distance. German Interior Minister Friedrich demanded a clear statement from the Commission whether ‘we can send back those people who come to Germany to surreptitiously obtain benefits and also to prevent their re-entry’.

Similar noises are coming from Denmark, the Netherlands and of course the UK. A study of the Commission shows that the number of EU migrants coming to Britain as jobseekers increased by 73% between 2008 and 2011. But the European Commission denies that ‘social benefit tourism’ is a problem and has launched legal proceedings against the UK’s ‘right to reside’ test, which is a part of the test the UK applies to those seeking to claim social benefits. Under the UK governments plans, EU migrants would have to be resident in Britain for six or nine months before being entitled to benefits such as jobseekers’ allowance and housing benefits.

It doesn’t look like the European Commission cares about their popularity on earth…