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Advocate General Szpunar has delivered his Opinion in Case C-93/18 Bajratari. The case is an important one which examines the question whether the children of an EU worker working in a host Member State can rely on his earnings to demonstrate self-sufficiency if those earnings are the result of illegal working. Mr and Mrs Bajratari are Albanian nationals. They have three children, two of whom are Irish nationals. They reside in Belfast, where Mr Bajratari has worked in the restaurant trade. His work has been illegal since, at least, 12 May 2014. The question is whether his children can rely on their father’s earnings obtained from that illegal work in order to establish a right to reside as a self-sufficient person under Article 7(1)(b) of Directive 2004/38 (the “Citizens Directive”). On 19 June 2019, Advocate General Szpunar delivered his Opinion. He considered that “Article 7(1)(b) … must be interpreted as meaning that a young child who is a Union citizen has sufficient resources not to become a burden on the social assistance system of the host Member State during his period of residence where, in circumstances such as those of the case in the main proceedings, those resources are provided from income derived from the activity unlawfully carried on in that Member State, without a residence or work permit, by the child’s father, a national of a third country.” The First Chamber of the CJEU will now consider the Opinion and eventually deliver a judgment. A copy of the Opinion can be found here. David Blundell represents the United Kingdom.
