The European Commission said on Thursday it had decided to refer Germany and Italy to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over practices it said discriminated against mobile workers.

In both countries in recent years, schemes were introduced for family allowances that were smaller for some groups of workers than for others.

In Italy, workers needed to have resided in the country for at least two years to be eligible for the benefit, while in Germany allowances were smaller for workers who had children residing in European Union countries where the cost of living was lower.

"One of the fundamental principles of the EU is that people are treated equally without any distinction based on nationality," the European Commission said in a statement.

"Following this basic principle, EU mobile workers who contribute in the same way to the social security system and pay the same taxes as local workers are entitled to the same social security benefits," it said.