WRITTEN QUESTION E-2804/00

by Karl von Wogau (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(4 September 2000)

Subject: Failure to credit insured employment in another Member State for the purposes of unemployment benefit

Is the Commission aware that entitlement to unemployment benefit in the Federal Republic of Germany depends upon where the last period of insured employment took place, and is this compatible with the rules of the European Union?

Is Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71(1) still compatible with present-day realities?

A German citizen worked for nine months in Germany, during and after her training, and then worked for six months in Britain in order to broaden her experience. In the Federal Republic of Germany entitlement to unemployment benefit basically starts 12 months after a period of insured employment which took place within the preceding three years.

In the case in question, the application for unemployment benefit was rejected because the person concerned, after the end of her job in Britain, had no subsequent employment in Germany. Since she was pregnant, however, she was no longer available for work. The rejection of the application for unemployment benefit referred, in this connection, to Article 76(3) of Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71.

(1) OJ L 149, 5.7.1971, p. 2.

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(12 October 2000)

Community law in the field of social security, in particular Council Regulation (EEC) 1408/71(1) coordinates, but does not harmonise, national social security systems in order to ensure that migrant workers and their family members do not lose their social protection when moving within the Community.

With regard to unemployment benefits, Article 67 of the Regulation provides that if a person becomes unemployed, the Member State in which this person claims unemployment benefit is obliged to take account of periods of insurance or employment under the legislation of any other Member State, if this is necessary for the entitlement to unemployment benefit in the State where the claim was submitted. In this context, it is also stated that this applies only if this person completed such periods in the Member States concerned immediately before becoming unemployed.

However, the above Regulation foresees an exception which would apply to the case raised by the Honourable Member if the person concerned had maintained her residence in Germany (Article 71(1)(b)(ii)). In such a case, if she becomes fully unemployed, she could choose whether she wants to receive unemployment benefits in the United Kingdom or in Germany.

To establish whether the person concerned maintained her residence in a Member State, in this case Germany, the Court of Justice held that account should be taken of the length and continuity of residence before the person concerned moved,

the length and purpose of her absence, the occupation found in the other Member State and the intention of the person concerned as it appears from all circumstances(2). It is then for the national institution or court to apply those criteria to the case before it.

(1) Last consolidated version: Council Regulation ((EC) No 118/97 of 2 December 1996 OJ L 28, 30.1.1997) amending and updating Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 of 14 June 1971 on the application of social security schemes to employed persons, to self-employed persons and to members of their families moving within the Community (OJ L 149 of 5.7.1971) and Regulation (EEC) No 574/72 laying down the procedure for implementing Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 of the Council of 21 March 1972 (OJ L 74, 27.3.1972 modified by OJ L 28, 30.1.1997).

(2) Case C-102/91 Doris Knoch v. Bundesanstalt für Arbeit [1992] ECR I-4341.