Compatibility of Dutch School Benefits with EU Law

In the Netherlands, students are eligible to receive a subsidy – the so-called ‘tegemoetkoming scholieren’. However, the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science limits the granting of this subsidy only to those students that choose to study in the Netherlands. The question is whether this policy violates the provisions in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which protect the rights of EU students to move freely in order to obtain education in their country of choice.

We explain that Member States are bound by EU law not to adopt measures that limit student mobility. More specifically, the non-granting of the Dutch school subsidy to students who pursue education in other Member States infringes Article 21 TFEU.

We also consider why the Dutch measure is still in force and why it has not been challenged by the many Dutch students who study abroad or by the European Commission. We test whether the national legal or EU system can assist aggrieved students and we conclude that it is very difficult for them to find redress when Dutch policy is not even recognized as being contrary to fundamental EU principles.