Social security coordination

Over time, the protection of social security rights in the EU has increased, in line with the expansion of citizenship rights. This development has been of particular significance for persons that are not economically active, which has in turn raised questions as regards its basis under the EEA Agreement, as the EEA Agreement does not, formally speaking, include provisions on Union citizenship and rights associated therewith, similar to those found in the EU Treaties. During the past decade, in particular since the adoption of the Treaty of Lisbon, the two EEA courts in Luxembourg - the Court of Justice within the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), and the EFTA Court, have faced a series of challenges to the arising differences between the EU pillar of the EEA, and the EFTA pillar of the EEA, with the inherent risk to the homogenous development of certain fields of law, such as social security coordination and effectively the free movement of persons, given their close interlink. Through judicial dialogue, the CJEU and the EFTA Court have managed to steer away from the risks to homogeneity and form a legally sustainable approach to scrutinising national restrictions in the field of social security.