UK faces EU education ruling bombshell

The British government could face huge extra education bills if a French student wins his European legal battle for a maintenance grant to study in London.

That prospect came a step closer today when a European Court judge backed Dany Bidar’s claim that the London Borough of Ealing’s refusal to give him funding - because he was not “settled” in the UK – breached his rights as an EU citizen.

Confirmation in a final EU court verdict early next year could open the floodgates for many more students to claim education cash in other EU countries – because education policy is increasingly coming under EU control.

The European Court’s Advocate-General, Leendert Geelhoed, said as much today, noting in a non-binding “opinion” that maintenance costs were once beyond the scope of EU law.

But he went on: “However, the inclusion, by the Treaty of Maastricht, of provisions bringing education within the sphere of Community action indicates that the subject of assistance with maintenance costs could now fall within the scope of the Treaty”.

The fact that the principle of “EU citizenship” has now been introduced reinforces that view, he said.

If today’s opinion is followed by the full court, it would amount to a “new and unforeseen development” in EU law which the UK government would not have been aware of when drafting education legislation, acknowledged Mr Geelhoed.

He even recommended that, as the financial implications for the British government are not clear if Mr Bidar wins, the impact of the ruling should not be retroactive.

Only legal challenges already mounted to other refused student grant requests should be allowed, plus any arising from refusals after the judgment date.

The case centres on the government's policy of giving student loans to non-UK EU citizens only if they have been resident in the UK the three years before starting their university course.

Mr Bidar moved to the UK in August 1998, completing his last three years of secondary education in London.

In September 2001 he enrolled at University College, London and applied to Ealing Borough for funding.

He was given assistance with tuition fees but a maintenance loan request was turned on as he as not considered “settled” in the UK.