UPDATE : Spouse's child: judgment of the Court of Justice of 2 April 2020
As already announced in April 2020 following the ruling, the Law on Benefits must be adapted. Preliminary discussions for a legislative amendment have been conducted by the Ministry for Family Affairs with members of the Chamber of Deputies, but so far no bill has been presented.
One of the main objectives of this future bill will be to establish the equal treatment of national and cross-border workers, as required by the Court of Justice.
This means that our fund is not in a position to provide you with any information other than what was communicated in April 2020.
In any case, individual judgements should be awaited in cases where an appeal has been lodged in due time. The outstanding cases will be decided in accordance with the provisions to be laid down in the forthcoming law.
14/04/2020
The Fund for the Future of Children (CAE) has carried out an initial analysis of the ruling of last 2 April and must conclude that a legislative adaptation of the conditions for granting child benefits is inevitable. It should result, as demanded by the European judges, in putting national workers and cross-border workers on an equal level: the personal right of the child as resident in Luxembourg since 1985 no longer exists, and is not recognised as a legitimate principle superior to European law.
The present ruling does not in itself result in a restoration of the situation existing before the 2016 reform, since the judges consider that the worker must "contribute to the maintenance costs" of the children for whom he or she claims family benefits. This assessment of the contribution to the maintenance costs is at the discretion of the administration or the national courts.
Accordingly, for cases for which an appeal has been duly lodged and which are currently pending before the courts, it is necessary to wait for the decision of the High Council or the Social Security Arbitration Council, as the case may be, before our fund can continue processing.
For the rest, and on the specific question of entitlement, the judgment unfortunately creates more questions than it solves because of the application of the provisions of Regulation 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems and the rules on priority of payment in the event of cumulation of rights. Until these issues are clarified, new applications for child benefit will be acknowledged, but processing will remain pending.
