If permits were issued on a simple per capita basis, the consequence would be a huge transfer of resources from rich to poor countries, though preventing benefits simply being absorbed by elites in the latter is a difficult issue.
Safeguards can and should be put in place to prevent benefit tourism and abuse of the system".
Brussels says that the tests are stringent at all levels and that existing rules, agreed by the UK, prevent benefit tourism.
A financial threshold that prevented benefit fraud cases of less than £20,000 being sent to crown court would be abolished, the CPS said.
President Obama's chained C.P.I. proposal does include protections that would prevent benefit reductions for many of the most vulnerable households.
The list is intended to prevent benefit checks, grants or contract payments from being made to individuals or companies that are not qualified to receive them.
The EU, broadly, allows national governments to seek to prevent benefit tourism by erecting residence and nationality tests around one whole class of benefits (called social assistance benefits in the jargon), which are not required for a safety net.
Freedom of movement in the EU has always been tempered by rules designed to prevent benefit tourism: under EU law you have to be able to demonstrate you can support yourself without being a burden on your host country.
The fundamental point is this: the ageing population is an inescapable fact that, in combination with pay-as-you-go financing, will require higher taxes to prevent benefit cuts or budget deficits.
We would disagree with Mr Duncan Smith, came the reply: the European Commission is convinced that a systematic and careful application of the habitual residence test is a powerful tool to prevent benefit tourism.Well hang on, I said to the DWP, in Brussels the commission is saying that the habitual residence test is enough to stop benefit tourism.
