EU court: Countries can deny benefits to 'welfare tourists'

EU citizens who move to another member state "solely in order to obtain social assistance" may be excluded from benefits schemes, the European Court of Justice (EJC) ruled on Tuesday (11 November).

The ruling is likely to appease critics of "welfare tourism", a marginal phenomenon which has emerged on the back of freedom of movement between member states but which stirred a huge debate in the UK and, to a lesser extent, in Germany.

The case was brought to the ECJ by a Romanian na...