At the hearing on February 11, the Court of Justice of the European Union heard the Opinion of Advocate General Saugmandsgaard Øe regarding the questions referred by the Senate in the case where it is to be decided whether the applicant – an Italian citizen who has moved to live with his family in Latvia – was justifiably denied the right to receive state-funded healthcare services. Having heard the Opinion of the Advocate General, the Court of Justice of the European Union will set the date on which the judgment will be delivered in response to questions put by the Senate.

In the present case, the applicant is an Italian citizen who has moved to Latvia to reunite with his family – a wife who is a Latvian citizen and children. The applicant was employed in Italy and was looking for a job in Latvia, he has two dependent minor children who are both Italian and Latvian citizens.

Having examined the applicant's cassation complaint against the judgment of the Regional Administrative Court, the Senate had doubts about the interpretation of several legal provisions of the European Union. Therefore, On July 9, 2019 the Senate stayed the proceedings in the case in order to refer to the Court of Justice of the European Union for a preliminary ruling. In the opinion of the Senate, this case is important in the context of several fundamental values ​​of the European Union.

In the present case, as the applicant has been denied access to both the Italian and Latvian health care systems, a situation has arisen that the applicant has been denied protection in the field of social security at all. This situation arose because the applicant had exercised his right of freedom of movement. In the opinion of the Senate, the exclusion of a person from the social security systems of all Member States of the European Union involved in the particular case would not be permissible.

Case No SKA-19/2021 (A420273216)

 

 

Information prepared by Baiba Kataja, the Press Secretary of the Supreme Court
Tel.: +371 67020396; e-mail: baiba.kataja@at.gov.lv