In its judgment of 23 March 2004, in Case C-138/02, Collins, the Court of Justice makes clear that the right to equal treatment in relation to employment laid down in Article 48(2) of the EC Treaty (now Article 39), read in conjunction with Articles 6 and 8 of the Treaty (now Articles 12 and 17), relating to prohibition of discrimination on grounds of nationality and to citizenship of the Union, does not preclude national legislation which makes entitlement to a jobseeker's allowance conditional on a residence requirement, in so far as that requirement may be justified on the basis of objective considerations that are independent of the nationality of the persons concerned and proportionate to the legitimate aim of the national provisions.

It emerges from the judgment of the Court of Justice of 20 September 2001, in Case C-184/99, Grzelczyk, that Articles 6 and 8 of the EC Treaty (now Articles 12 and 17), relating to prohibition of discrimination on grounds of nationality and to citizenship of the Union, preclude entitlement to a non-contributory social benefit, such as the minimum subsistence allowance (minimex) provided by the Belgian Law, from being made conditional, in the case of nationals of Member States other than the host State where they are legally resident, on their falling within the scope of the Council Regulation on the free movement of workers within the Community when no such condition applies to nationals of the host Member State.

It emerges from the judgment of the Court of Justice of 19 October 2004, in Case C-200/02, Zhu and Chen, that Article 18 of the EC Treaty, relating to the right of every citizen of the Union to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States, and Directive 90/364, on the right of residence, confer on a young minor who is a national of a Member State, is covered by appropriate sickness insurance and is in the care of a parent who is a third-country national having sufficient resources for that minor not to become a burden on the public finances of the host Member State, a right to reside for an indefinite period in that State. In such circumstances, those same provisions allow a parent who is that minor’s primary carer to reside with the child in the host Member State.