WRITTEN QUESTION P-1828/00

by Gilles Savary (PSE) to the Commission

(31 May 2000)

Subject: Social security coordination at European level

Two European citizens who are resident in France and, pursuant to Community provisions on social security, respectively in receipt of a Belgian pension from the Belgian Pensions Agency and a pension from the Aquitaine Regional Health Insurance Fund (Caisse Régionale d'Assurance Maladie Aquitaine) on the one hand and of a Spanish pension and a pension from the Aquitaine Regional Health Insurance Fund on the other, had been initially informed that the Aquitaine Regional Health Insurance Fund would assume the cost of a home help.

A ministerial circular of 22 April 1999 stated that the National Old Age Pension Fund (Caisse Nationale d'Assurance Vieillesse) was not liable to pay out unless the greater number of quarterly social security contributions had been paid into the general scheme.

In view of this circular, the Aquitaine Regional Health Insurance Fund said that it would not bear the cost of a home help for the two pensioners.

In the case of the two pensioners in question, the majority of quarterly contributions were made to the Belgian and to the Spanish social security systems respectively, neither of which will bear such costs other than for pensioners resident in their countries.

Is the circular of 22 April 1999 in keeping with current Community law provisions on social security and, consequently, is the refusal to bear the cost referred to above legal in view of such provisions?

What rights do these two people have as regards home help and with regard to which national authorities?

Should it become apparent that there are no Community provisions to deal with such a situation and identify which authority is responsible for the provision of such benefits, does the Commission intend to complement Community legislation as soon as possible in order to guarantee a high level of old age benefits to all Community citizens in such situations no matter where they have chosen to reside within the European Union?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(28 June 2000)

The Commission would point out to the Honourable Member that a similar question was posed to the Court of Justice, which had to examine whether the benefits of the new long-term care insurance scheme, introduced on 1 January 1995 by the German legislator,

constitute sickness benefits within the meaning of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 of 14 June 1971 on the application of social security schemes to employed persons and their families moving within the Community(1). In its judgement of 5 March 1998 in case C-160/96 Molenaar(2), the Court analysed the different types of German long-term care insurance benefits and stated that they could be classified as either benefits in kind or cash benefits from the health insurance scheme within the meaning of Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71.

In the opinion of the Court the long-term care insurance benefits partly consist of bearing or reimbursing the costs incurred by the state of dependence of the person concerned, particularly as regards medical costs. Such benefits, which are intended to cover the cost of care provided to the insured person either at home or in a special establishment, the cost of equipment and the work carried out, are defined as benefits in kind which are covered within the meaning of the Regulation (point 32 of the judgement).

However, the Court considered that the care allowance, which is seen as financial support which enables the overall improvement of the standard of living of the dependent person by reimbursing the extra costs incurred by the state in which the dependent person is residing, is classified as a cash benefit within the meaning of Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 (points 35 and 36 of the judgement).

Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71, which coordinates but does not harmonise the different national social security systems, lays down rules which aim to determine the legislation to be applied, particularly with regard to sickness benefits, according to the category of persons (persons in employment, pensioners, unemployed persons).

With this in mind, the Commission called on the national authorities to submit their legislation on home help in order to enable it to examine whether this legislation applies to sickness benefits within the meaning of Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 and, if appropriate, to take the necessary measures to ensure conformity with Community law.

(1) OJ L 149, 5.7.1971 (last consolidated version: Regulation (EC) No 118/97 OJ L 28, 30.1.1997.

(2) ECR 1998. p. I-843.