JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Fourth Chamber)
27 February 2014
[...]
On those grounds, the Court (Fourth
Chamber) hereby rules:
1.Article 13(5) of Council Directive
2003/9/EC of 27 January 2003 laying down minimum standards for the reception of
asylum seekers must be interpreted as meaning, where a Member State has opted
to grant the material reception conditions in the form of financial allowances
or vouchers, that those allowances must be provided from the time the
application for asylum is made, in accordance with the provisions of Article
13(1) of that directive, and must meet the minimum standards set out in Article
13(2) thereof. That Member State must ensure that the total amount of the
financial allowances covering the material reception conditions is sufficient
to ensure a dignified standard of living and adequate for the health of applicants
and capable of ensuring their subsistence, enabling them in particular to find
housing, having regard, if necessary, to the preservation of the interests of
persons having specific needs, pursuant to Article 17 of that directive. The
material reception conditions laid down in Article 14(1), (3), (5) and (8) of
Directive 2003/9 do not apply to the Member States where they have opted to
grant those conditions in the form of financial allowances only. Nevertheless,
the amount of those allowances must be sufficient to enable minor children to
be housed with their parents, so that the family unity of the asylum seekers
may be maintained.
2.Directive 2003/9 must be interpreted as
meaning that it does not preclude, where the accommodation facilities specifically
for asylum seekers are overloaded, the Member States from referring the asylum
seekers to bodies within the general public assistance system, provided that
that system ensures that the minimum standards laid down in that directive as
regards the asylum seekers are met.
