The Integration Exception: A New Limit to Social Rights of Third-Country Nationals in European Union Law?

Abstract

Recent case-law of the EU Court of Justice (ECJ) on the rights of third-country nationals (TCNs) reveals the introduction of an 'integration exception': guarantees of equal treatment of TCNs are not applicable if the measures causing uneqaul treatment aim to promote the TCNs' integration in the host Member States. As a result equal treatment of TCNs, including in the field of social rights, is made subject to a requirement of prior integration. This chapter analyses the case law on the integration exception and sheds light on its doctrinal and theoretical implications. It argues that the introduction of the integration exception marks the reinforcement of an 'exclusionary' approach to the integration of TCNs under EU law, which was already visible in the field of immigration and is now extended to the domain of social rights.