EU Law & Homelessness
16th July 2014
Matt Moriarty, Legal Project Manager
&
Rebecca Collins, Project Manager
What will we cover?
I. The European Union
 Founding principles
 EU institutions
 The EU and other European Structures
II. EU law
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Sources of EU law
Enforcing EU law
Who does EU law apply to?
Basic residence rights
The EU – Founding Principles
“The Union is founded on the values of respect
for human dignity, liberty, democracy, equality,
the rule of law, and respect for human rights,
including the rights of persons belonging to
minorities”
The fundamental principles of
the EU guarantees the free
movement of:
• Persons
• Goods
• Services
• Capital
EU INSTITUTIONS
European Parliament
Council of the EU
European Commission
European Council
CJEU
Others
The Origin
of EU Law
Topic II:
EU Law
Sources of EU law
There is a hierarchy of law in the EU:
TREATIES
REGULATIONS
& DIRECTIVES
CASELAW
Relationship with Domestic Law
The EU only legislates in fields where it is
empowered to do so by the treaties. Primarily:
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trade within the EU – i.e. single market legislation;
agriculture, fisheries and food;
economic policy (mostly for Eurozone countries);
international trade;
competition; and
justice and home affairs (the UK has the right to opt-in
or to opt-out in much of the latter field).
Note that EU law is
supreme in domestic
legal systems.
In
the
UK,
the
European Communities
Act 1972 established
this.
• EU law confers rights and obligations on the authorities in each member
country, as well as individuals and businesses.
• The authorities in each member country are responsible for
implementing EU legislation in national law and enforcing it correctly, and
they must guarantee citizens’ rights under these laws.
How to Enforce EU Law
Litigation in
UK Courts &
Tribunals
References
to the CJEU
Infringement
proceedings
Provisions in EU regulations, directives and treaties can be used to argue
on behalf of clients at – for example – social security tribunals or housing
benefit appeals
Domestic Courts, if they are struggling to interpret how EU law works in a
specific situation (and there is no previous cases to help them), can refer a
set of questions to the CJEU Judges. They will then decide how the
provisions of EU law were intended to be interpreted in this situation
If it is thought that Member States are not properly implementing EU law
then individuals, organisations or other States can write a complaint letter
to the European Commission. They will investigate and tell the MS in
question what they have to do to become compliant with EU Law. If the
MS disagrees, refuses to comply, or takes too long to comply, then the
Commission can refer the MS for judgment at the CJEU where Judges can
hand down hefty fines (France was forced to pay €78m in 2005 for noncompliance in relation to fisheries law)
Who does EU Law apply to?
Who does EU law apply to (ctd)
Nationals of these countries:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France,
Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy,
Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg,
Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal,
Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland
The UK is not included!*
A8 countries are underlined
A2 countries are hyphen-underlined
*There are exceptions, but these are very specific and don’t apply in general circumstances
A8 and A2 Nationals
A8 – Joined in 2004Czech
Republic
Estonia
Hungary
Latvia
Lithuania
Poland
Slovakia
Slovenia
A2 – Joined in 2007
Romania
Bulgaria
Basic Residence Rights
Any EEA national has the right to move to and reside in the UK for up to three months
At the end of three months – in order to live here legally – EEA nationals must exercise
“treaty rights”
TREATY
RIGHTS
After five years of legally living in the UK whilst exercising treaty rights (with some
exceptions), EEA nationals can apply for permanent residence
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