WRITTEN QUESTION E-1608/02

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(5 June 2002)

Subject: Denial of National Mortgage Guarantee in the Netherlands to some residents who are nationals of other EU Member States or EEA countries

1. Is the Commission aware that the Owner-Occupiers Guarantee Fund (Stichting Waarborg-fonds Eigen Woning) in the Netherlands, which provides National Mortgage Guarantees the successor of Municipal Guarantees (guarantees provided by municipal authorities that home-buyers would meet their mortgage payments) and protects home-buyers against future risks and against higher interest payments to building societies to cover higher risks, has introduced new rules in 2002, one of which (p. 12) is that an applicant from a Member State of the European Union or the European Economic Area must be in possession of a Netherlands residence permit which is valid indefinitely in order to be eligible for a loan to help him/her buy a home or, as an owner-occupier, make improvements to his/her home?

2. Is the Commission aware that the Netherlands only grants the right to such a residence permit once the applicant has been entered in the population register of a Dutch municipality for five years, even if the person concerned can prove with the aid of witnesses or by producing an employment contract that he/she has been resident in the Netherlands for longer?

3. Does the Commission agree that there is no need for a requirement to produce a residence permit of indefinite validity as a means of combating speculation by people who are not resident in the Netherlands, because the rules governing mortgage guarantees also state that a guarantee is valid only if the beneficiary occupies the dwelling in person and it is his/her permanent principal home, and the guarantee remains valid only so long as this continues to be the case?

4. Do the new rules constitute discrimination on grounds of nationality, bearing in mind that people who wish to settle in the Netherlands for a long period and spouses of Netherlands nationals who themselves are nationals of another Member State of the EU or the EEA are placed at a disadvantage with regard to the opportunity to buy a dwelling with the intention of living in it in person?

5. What will the Commission do to put an end to this unequal treatment and discrimination on grounds of nationality?

Supplementary answergiven by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(3 September 2002)

The Honourable Member draws the Commission's attention to the conditions attached to the National Mortgage Guarantee Scheme in the Netherlands. In order to be granted such a mortgage an Union national must be in possession of a residence permit of unlimited duration.

The Dutch mortgage guarantee scheme would appear to be a social advantage under Article 7(2) of Council Regulation (EEC) 1612/68 of 15 October 1968 on freedom of movement for workers within the Community(1). This regulation only applies to Union nationals who have exercised their right to work in another Member State and their family members. Social advantages are also available to Union nationals legally residing in a Member State, on the basis of the citizenship provisions of the EC Treaty. Union nationals have a right to equal treatment in the granting of social advantages as compared to the nationals of the host Member State who are in the same position as they are.

Dutch nationals do not have to possess a residence card, and the condition of a residence card of unlimited duration is therefore only applicable to nationals of other Member States.

The Commission's services will write to the Dutch authorities asking for further information on the conditions imposed on Union migrant workers under the National Mortgage Guarantee Scheme. Upon receipt of this information the Commission will be in a position to take any action necessary.

(1) OJ L 257, 19.10.1968.