INTRODUCTION

Although not always readily admitted, the reality is that the European Community (‘EC’), is primarily concerned with economic rights. It is this body of rights that is given the greatest degree of protection within the Community legal order. Social rights depend, for the most part, on either the exercise of an economic activity, which brings entitlement to those rights, or are an integral part of that economic activity, in the sense that they regulate the conditions under which that economic activity may be exercised. It is rare to find purely social rights – that is, rights that are unconnected to any economic activity on the part of the beneficiary – which are justiciable under EC law. The most notable exception to this general rule is the directive on racial equality which grants the right to equal treatment in many spheres of life unconnected with, and not contingent upon, the exercise of an economic activity, such as housing, social protection, health care and education. Moreover, the European Court of Justice (‘ECJ’) has confirmed in a number of recent cases that the European citizen who moves within the Community, but who is not necessarily economically active, may enjoy some entitlement to social rights which was previously believed to be confined to those who were economically active or who were dependants of economically active persons. This development is discussed more fully below at Section 5.5.