Secretariat‐General Director and Acting Head of Unit - C2 Ethics, Good Administration & Relations with the European Ombudsman European Commission

 

Dear Ms X,

On 9 December 2024, the European Ombudsman received a query from the Ombudsman of the German-speaking Community of Belgium concerning the interpretation of Regulation 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems with respect to child benefits.

The requesting Ombudsman is dealing with a case concerning a family that received child benefits from Belgium and the German-speaking Community for several years. The family resides in Belgium but the father works in Germany. The mother was unemployed and received unemployment benefits for some time in Belgium. The family now faces a recovery request concerning child benefits for 18 months because the relevant Belgian authority believes that it had wrongly determined the competent Member State and that Germany should have paid instead.

Based on this query, we would like to ask the Commission to reply to the following questions:

1. Could the Commission clarify which Member State has to pay child benefits in a situation where (i) a family lives in one Member State (Belgium) where the mother is entitled to unemployment benefits and (ii) the father works in another Member State (Germany)?

Can the mother’s unemployment benefits be considered as ‘rights available on the basis of an activity as an employed or self-employed person’ within the meaning of Article 68(1)(b)(i) of Regulation 883/2004?

2. Given that Germany accepts to pay child benefits for the six months preceding the application only, how should Article 68(3)(b) of Regulation 883/2004 be applied if another Member State (Belgium) has already paid the benefit for more than six months (although Germany should have paid)?

What are the implications for possible recovery by the authorities of the Member State which paid child benefits for more than six months (although another Member State should have paid) from the recipient or from the Member State that should have paid? Can Belgium or the German-speaking Community of Belgium seek reimbursement from Germany?

3. To the extent that the Member State authorities are implementing EU law and act within its scope of application, does EU law offer any additional protection to persons who received child benefits for extended periods of time in good faith and suddenly face recovery claims based on the fact that the Member State authorities consider that they had wrongly determined the Member State that should pay - such as the protection of property (Article 17 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights) and of acquired rights, the principles of non-retroactivity, legitimate expectations, legal certainty, proportionality and sound administration?

We would appreciate it if the Commission could respond to this query and the questions above, and provide any additional useful guidance, by 10 February 2025, if possible, so that we can forward the information to the Ombudsman of the German-speaking Community of Belgium.

A copy of this letter, and of the Commission’s reply, will be made available on the Ombudsman’s website.

Yours sincerely,

Tina Nilsson
Head of the Case-handling Unit

Strasbourg, 13/01/2025