Under Pressure? – Swedish Residence-Based Social Security and EU Citizenship

Abstract

This article analyses the impact of free movement of persons on Swedish residence-based social security in the areas of old-age pensions, health care and social assistance. Since becoming a member of the EU in 1995 Sweden has made both minor and larger adaptations of various residence concepts in social security law. The article describes these legislative changes and analyses the practical implications for migration as well as whether the changes have had a deeper impact on values in Swedish social security. The analysis shows that the Swedish legislator and courts are struggling to strike a balance between residence-based social security and free movement of persons. An early – and also a major – change was to turn the guarantee-level pension into a pro-rata scheme. To follow up the consequences of this, a special non-contributory benefit had to be introduced to prevent an inflow of applicants into social assistance. However, this benefit has proved to be vulnerable to mobility. The implementation of Directive 2004/38 was made without any real changes of social security legislation. At a later stage this led to difficulties in the application of the various residence-concepts in Swedish law. The legislator is now using various techniques to improve access to residence-based benefits and, at the same time, ensure a minimum coverage for migrants to ensure that the basic values of Swedish social security as well as international obligations are fulfilled.