WRITTEN QUESTION P-0415/99

by James Fitzsimons (UPE) to the Commission

(19 February 1999)

Subject: Equal opportunities for men and women

In December 1995, the Council adopted a medium-term Community action programme on equal opportunities for men and women (95/593/EC(1)) which is due to conclude on 31 December 2000. Under the terms of the programme, the Commission was due to present a report to the European Parliament by 31 December 1998 at the latest.

1. Will the Commission indicate if this report has been duly forwarded and, if so, what are its main conclusions?

2. If not, when will the report be presented?

3. How does the Commission consider that the case for equal-treatment rights for men in social security matters is being treated at European Union level, and how many cases have been brought before the Court of Justice concerning equal treatment for men in social security matters?

Answer given by Mr Flynn on behalf of the Commission

(18 March 1999)

The interim report on the implementation of the medium-term Community action programme on equal opportunities for men and women (1996-2000)(2), adopted on 17 December 1998 by the Commission, was transmitted to the Parliament, and the Women's Rights Committee is currently examining it.

The report describes the basic features of the programme and the ways in which it is organised and managed. It presents the findings of the programme in relation to its six policy aims (achieving gender "mainstreaming", mobilising all concerned to achieve equality, promoting equality in a changing economy, reconciling work and family life, promoting a gender balance in decision-making and creating conditions for the exercise of equality rights). It illustrates the relevance and contribution of the programme to developments and policies at Community level. The report concludes that the main added value of the programme is its potential contribution to change at operational level in local, national or European situations, through strategies for innovation, partnership and transfer of good practice. This "built-in" added value is demonstrated in the programme's results and will be increasingly achieved as the programme embarks upon the dissemination stage of its initiatives.

While responsibility for social security policy and administration rests with the Member States, Directives 79/7/EEC(3) and 86/378/EEC(4) (as amended by Directive 96/97/EC(5)) provide for implementation of the principle of equal treatment for women and men in the field of social security. Article 119 of the EC Treaty protects the rights of women and men to equal treatment concerning occupational pension schemes. Some areas of social security, for example survivors' pensions and pensionable age in public pensions schemes, remain outside the scope of these measures. The Commission's proposal for a third directive to complete equal treatment in matters of social security(6) is still pending before the Council.

Because Community law provides for equal treatment without distinction of sex, no precise information exists on the number of cases brought before the Court of justice concerning aspects of the equal treatment issue of men as distinct from women.

(1) OJ L 335, 30.12.1995, p. 37.

(2) COM(98) 770.

(3) OJ L 6, 10.1.1979.

(4) OJ L 225, 12.8.1986.

(5) OJ L 46, 17.2.1997.

(6) COM(87) 494.