Foreign Ministry on workers in Austria's non-resident children's allowance: Decision contravenes EU legislation

The Romanian Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) and Romania's Government stated on Saturday that they took note "with concern" of the coming into force starting 1 January 2019 of the legislation regarding the adjustment of the allowances for non-resident children of workers in this member state depending on the average living cost in the residence country of the child, and say that such a decision contravenes the principles laying at the foundation of the European project and the legislation of the European Union.

"It is worth mentioning that the area of enforcing the new legislation is represented by the allowances and tax deductions for non-resident children of persons working in Austria, the measure not affecting the children living in this state. We find such a measure contravenes the principles laying at the foundation of the European project and the Union legislation, by creating a discrimination situation in respect to the citizens of other member states, Romanians included, who are paying taxes in Austria," MAE states in a press release.

MAE points out that the Romanian authorities will continue the demarches with the European Commission and will make a call on all available institutions, according to the EU legislation.

According to MAE, the Romanian state firmly supports the exercise of the fundamental freedoms of movement inside the European Union and the equal access of European workers to the social benefits corresponding to the work performed.

"The Romanian citizens working in Austria pay the same taxes as the citizens of this state and they must enjoy an equal treatment as those in terms of corresponding rights. The EU membership compels all states to ensure a correct, fair and undiscriminating treatment for all European citizens," the MAE representatives also say.

According to the same sources, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union provides the right of European workers to settle and work in any other member state than the one where they have their citizenship, benefiting from the social advantages of the residence country, in the same conditions as its citizens, without any citizenship-related discrimination.

"Romania has been the first state to have drawn attention on the problems incurred by the Austrian legislative measures aimed at introducing the mechanism of indexation of child allowances. In this respect, political-diplomatic demarches have been conducted on all levels, both on the bilateral component and in discussions with European officials. In all these demarches, Romania has constantly underscored the need to maintain the prevalence of the equality of EU citizens, the fundamental nature of the right to free movement and the need to observe the imperative of similar benefits for equal contributions on the level of all member states. The topic is still on the discussion agenda with the representatives of the other member states, particularly Austria and countries with similar interests as Romania, as well as with EU institutions, the European Commission in particular. MAE will continue to underscore in the bilateral and European talks the unfair and contrary to the EU values nature of the recent Austrian law," the release mentions.