30th of April: new EU law. Difficult questions.

Hello friends,

I think my question is valid for this forum (although may be indirectly).

As we know from the 30th of April a new Europian Union law will get the power. Everyone with an EU mamber state papsport will be allowed to stay in any other EU member state without even needing to be registered with the locla authorities. You can reside being employed, self-employed or even without a job anywhere in the EU.

In the case of living without a job all you need is to provide a proof of funds and a medical insurance, so you won't be asking for public funds.

My questions are difficult but I think some of you may help.

The first question is how much money you need to possess to pass "a proof of funds" border. I am interested in knowing the minimum emount of money needed, of course.

The second question relates to medical insurances. a) What is the minimum acceptable cost for such a medical insurance or in the other wards what must such insurances cover? b) Could such insurances be purchased from the UK (BUPA, AXA etc.) or it should only be perchased in contries of residence?

I understand that the answers may depend on a particular country. So what about France, Grmany, Spain and Italy.

I am looking forward to your replies. Thanks.

You're talking about the implementation of EU Directive 2004/38/EC http://www.ecas.org/file_uploads/1008.pdf.

The guidlines say sufficient resources ought to be at a level which ensures that the EU citizen does

"not become a burden on the social services of the host Member State during their stay. The Member States may not specify a minimum amount which they deem sufficient, but they must take account of personal circumstances".

A recent EU court case went into it a little bit more, and would apply to this new Directive (one would assume). Click here.

A EHIC Card, which you are entitled to, as a EU citizen - more or less - is enough, apparently.

I think registration is going to be required (or, more correctly, continued) in some EU countries, though not the UK, it seems. The registration, however, can't be required before 3 months residence, however (whatever the earlier practice was).

This means, in the UK, after you have spent 5 years residing in the UK, and you wanted Permanent Residence (which you can't have until those 5 years), you would have to prove residence through bills, bank accounts, job slips or whatever, but of course, you will have no permits to show (or stamps). One hopes this will not be abused.

thank you, tt - a useful for me reading about the case in Belgium.

yes, I've been talking about that directive.

In the nearest futuer (after April 30) I am planning to have a long holoday of let say 6-12 months . I would like to spend it entirely in one of the major EU countries (where I have a property). I wanted to understand how much money I need to have and which medical insurance to purchase to be guaranteed not to move back to the UK every three months.

I think such information does not yet exist in numbers and will be strongly dependent on a particular country. Thus I will need to obtain the info being already in that country, I guess