Restrictions on EU migrants’ access to in-work benefits have been proposed as one of David Cameron’s bargaining chips in the UK’s EU membership renegotiation.
The prime minister has said he would like to stop EU migrants from claiming benefits for the first four years of their residence. However, legal experts have warned this could be discriminatory, and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is reported to have indicated that he sees the proposal as “highly problematic”.
Cameron set out four objectives in his demands to Donald Tusk, president of the European council, this week. The others are: explicit recognition that the euro is not the EU’s only currency; a target for the reduction of red tape; and an exemption for the UK from the EU’s founding ambition of “ever-closer union” and greater powers for Westminster to block EU legislation.
