On 19-20 of October, our German member Diakonie Deutschland (Diaconia Germany) held a conference in Berlin on the situation of EU mobile citizens in Germany. The conference brought together representatives from the Federal Ministry for employment and social affairs, the Federal Ministry for the Interior, the Bundestag (National Parliament), local authorities, lawyers and civil society representatives to discuss the issue.

In recent years, German legislation regarding basic social support has become more restrictive towards employment seekers from other EU countries. These EU mobile citizens are excluded from basic social support for five years. Diakonie Deutschland and other civil society actors have since then repeatedly pointed out to the negative social effects of this new measure.    

The aim of the conference was to inform and discuss concrete ways of securing social support for EU mobile citizens, as well as how to address the risk of withdrawal of the right to free movement. The conference included the presentation of the legal framework and concrete cases-studies, but also the existing support structures and discussions around national and European policies.

To know more about the event, check the detailed programme of the conference (DE).