Today the Federal Government approved the interim report of the Committee of State Secretaries on "Legal issues and challenges in the field of social security claims by nationals of the EU Member States".
The Federal Cabinet appointed the Committee of State Secretaries on 8 January 2014. The Committee informs the Federal Cabinet about the figures, facts and the legal situation in its interim report on immigration from other EU Member States, and makes proposals for activities to fight abuse as well as for supporting particularly affected local authorities.
Now that the Federal Cabinet has taken its decision, the report is to be forwarded to the Presidents of the German Bundestag and of the Bundesrat.
The interim report is sub-divided into four chapters. It kicks off with an introductory chapter dealing with the main results of the Committee.
1st Chapter: Stocktake of the figures and facts, including migration statistics, employment statistics, social benefits claimed, the situation of local authorities (tables annexed to the Report).
2nd Chapter: Stocktake of the legal situation: clarifying and presenting the European and national legal provisions, in particular Union citizens’ right to freedom of movement, integration courses and conceivable social benefit entitlements.
3rd Chapter: Support for particularly affected local authorities: analysis of the shortcomings and the potential for support, focussing on the "Socially Minded City" programme and on EU programmes.
4th Chapter: Potential activities to fight abuse: analysis of the shortcomings and potential for action in national law, as well as in administrative procedures and in cooperation between authorities.
The Committee of State Secretaries will continue to address these problems and investigate the potential for action in a detailed manner, and will be presenting its final report to the Federal Cabinet in June 2014.