Italy's museums made free for EU pensioners

British pensioners who want to visit Italian galleries and museums will no longer have to pay an entrance fee after judges ruled that access should be free to all OAPs in the European Union.

The European Court of Justice ruled that Italy was acting illegally by charging foreign pensioners while letting Italian pensioners in free.

"Admission to a member state's museums which entails discrimination affecting only foreign tourists is prohibited," judges at the court in Luxembourg said.

The European Commission took Italy to court after complaints from visitors. Italy argued that its citizens had paid taxes which helped maintain the sites, while foreigners had not. But the judges said arguments of a purely economic nature were unacceptable. There was no direct link between any tax on Italian residents and the application of preferential admission rates to museums and monuments. "Italy infringed the community law principles of the free movement of services and non discrimination," the judges said.

The ruling does not mean that all EU cultural attractions have to be free of charge – just that whatever arrangements are made cannot discriminate on grounds of nationality or residence.