Sample Solution

This is a problem question which raises issues relating to the free movement of persons. EU citizenship was established in the Treaty of Maastricht and is determined on the basis of an individual holding the nationality of a Member State: Article 9 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) defines EU citizenship as “Every person holding the nationality of a Member State shall be a citizen of the Union. Citizenship of the Union shall be additional to and not replace national citizenship.” Article 20 (2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) sets out the rights which EU citizens are entitled to and under Article 21 (1) TFEU, EU citizens have the right to move and reside freely in other Member States. Directive 2004/38 which is also known as the Citizens Rights Directive, was enacted in April 2004 and also covers the right of EU citizens and their family members rights to move and reside freely within other Member States. In order to determine the parties rights, it is necessary to determine whether they are EU citizens first and then analyse how EU law relates to their situations.

Firstly, Sandra is a Belgian citizen which means under Article 20 (1) TFEU and Article 9 TEU , she is an EU citizen. She has the right to move and reside freely which is one of the fundamental freedoms of the European Union. She has moved from her netball team, Antwerp Angels, which is based in Belgium over to Tooting which is based in London, England which is another Member State. Her contract is for 2 years and she will receive £2000 per match played. Sandra has moved from Belgium to London as a worker so she is protected under Article 25 of the Directive 2004/38 and can stay longer than 3 months based on Article 7 of the Directive. In the case of Lawrie-Blum v Baden-Württemberg the Court of Justice objectively defined a ‘worker’ as “a person who is obliged to provide services for another in return for monetary reward and who is subject to the direction and control of the other person as regards the way in which the work is to be done.” In this situation Sandra is providing a service through netball for Tooting where she has a contract in which she is under the control of and she receives her “monetary reward” which is £2000 per match played. She can therefore stay longer than 3 months as she is working and has sufficient economic income. Sandra is entitled to all of the European Union related rights which include Article 45 TFEU which provides that a Union worker has the right to “accept offers of employment actually