Abstract

This paper deals with cross-border access to national social protection systems by economically inactive EU migrants and sheds light on the current state of European social citizenship. It explores the transnational space of social solidarity by looking at the challenges posed by Union citizenship to the paradigm of intra- EU migration by virtue of the far-reaching principle of equal treatment, as well as the social security coverage of vulnerable migrants under Regulation 883/2004. Based on the analysis of the relevant legal framework and the recent ECJ's case law on lawful residence and entitlement to welfare benefits, the contribution makes a plea for systematic coherence in the interpretation of secondary law and challenges the prevailing reading of the relationship between Directive 2004/38 and Regulation 883/2004 on grounds of systemic rationality.