Court Decision Referring to Residence Rights

The Court’s decision in Case C-200/02 states that “Article 18 EC and Directive 90/364/EEC on the right of residence confer on a young minor who is a national of a Member State, is covered by appropriate sickness insurance and is in the care of a parent who is a third-country national having sufficient resources for that minor not to become a burden on the public finances of the host Member State, a right to reside for an indefinite period in that State. In those circumstances, those same provisions allow a parent who is that minor’s primary carer to reside with the child in the host Member State.
In this regard, the sufficient resources condition set out in Directive 90/364 cannot be interpreted as meaning that the minor must personally possess such resources and cannot rely on the resources of a family member. Indeed, such an interpretation would add to this condition a requirement concerning the origin of the resources which would constitute a disproportionate interference with the exercise of the fundamental right of free movement and residence guaranteed by Article 18 EC, as it is not necessary for achieving the objective pursued, which is to protect the public finances of the Member States.
Moreover, the application of these favorable Community provisions to those concerned cannot be excluded on the grounds that the parent with custody created, by residing in a Member State, the conditions allowing the child to be born to acquire the nationality of another Member State, so that he could subsequently obtain, both for the child and for himself, a long-term right of residence. Indeed, the determination of the conditions for acquiring and losing nationality falls, under international law, within the competence of each Member State, a competence which must be exercised in compliance with Community law, and a Member State cannot restrict the effects of the granting of nationality of another Member State by imposing an additional condition for recognition of that nationality in order to be able to exercise the fundamental freedoms provided for by the Treaty.