European Union – Freedom of movement. The Court of Justice gave a preliminary ruling, deciding that art 24 of Directive (EC) 2004/38 and art 4 of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004, as amended, should be interpreted as not precluding legislation of a member state under which nationals of other member states who were in a situation such as that referred to in art 14(4)(b) of that directive were excluded from entitlement to certain 'special non-contributory cash benefits' within the meaning of art 70(2) of Regulation 883/2004, which also constituted 'social assistance' within the meaning of art 24(2) of Directive 2004/38, although those benefits were granted to nationals of the member state concerned who were in the same situation.