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Commission v. Austria [2005]
June 1, 2007 | Leave a Comment
In the recent case of Commission v. Austria concerning restrictions of entry for foreign students (mostly medical students) to Austrian universities, the ECJ decided that the Austrian legislation in this domain is contrary to Community law. The Austrian “Law on University Studies” provides that students from other Member States must fulfill the admission requirements to the chosen course of studies in their home states.
The ECJ ruled that admittance conditions that “are liable to have greater effect on nationals of other Member States than on Austrian nationals” are forbidden and cannot be justified. Therefore, Austria was obliged to ensure equal access to higher and university education under the same conditions for holders of secondary education diplomas awarded in any Member State. As a consequence, Austrian Universities are now confronted with a large number of German medical students not admitted in Germany.
This judgment was based on the principle of non-discrimination in combination with the right to free movement for education purposes. The ECJ used the Grzelczyk reasoning to strike down all covert forms of discrimination.
Text of the ECJ judgment
Text of the AG opinion