Ms Marianne Thyssen
Commissioner for Employment and Social affairs
Mr. Biser Pektov,
President of the EPSCO-council
Min isters of the EPSCO-council
June 19, 2018
Indexation of child benefits for children living in other EU Member States
Dear President Petkov,
Dear Commissioner Thyssen,
Dear Colleagues,
We are writing this letter in view of the upcoming EPSCO meeting on
21st
of June
2018 to
dtaw your attention to the subject of the coordination of family benefits in the revision
of
regulation 883/2004.
We would like to reiterate our explicit support to the principle of free movement in the
EU. In
order to maintain public support for the principle of free movement the rules must
be
perceived as fair. We do not consider it fair that family benefits are paid out in full in a
country
where the value of those benefits is worth twice or even three times as much as in the
country which pays them. The aim of family benefits according to regulation 883/2
004 is to
cover the cost of raising a child and in our view this purpose would be better serve
d by
—
having regard to the effective cost of living in the Member State where the bene
fit is paid.
Additionally, in many Member States the amount of family benefits paid depends
on the
income of the parents. This means that those parents who earn more and who pay highe
r
taxes receive lower family benefits or do not receive any family benefits at all, while
those
who pay lower taxes are eligible to receive family benefits in full. The consequence
of having
income thresholds for family benefits in some Member States is that those Member
States
which do not have income thresholds in their legislation end up paying the full amou
nt of
family benefits to citizens from other Member States, rather than only a differential
supplement.
We therefore firmly believe that it is fully in line with the principle of free movement
to adjust
family benefits in line with the cost of living in the Member State of tesidence of the
children.