WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1754/98 by Anita POLLACK to the Commission. Bihari people in Bangladesh
Date: 1998-06-05
Institutions: European Parliament, POLLACK
Subjects: Bangladesh, EU aid, Pakistan, aid to refugees, construction costs, housing need, housing policy, return migration

19. 11. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 354/121

Does  the  Commission  not  consider  that  differentials  between  men  and  women(cid:146)s  pensions  are  a  breach  of
Article 119 of the Rome Treaty? Should a paragraph not have been inserted into the law to ensure that from 1 July
1999 all women are guaranteed a non-discriminatory pension scheme? The present situation is that 26 of the 43
Danish pension funds treat women less favourably than men.

Answer given by Mr Flynn on behalf of the Commission

(22 June 1998)

Pursuant  to  Article  119  of  the  EC  Treaty  as  interpreted  by  the  Court  of  Justice  in  the  Barber  judgment (1)
of 17 May 1990 and subsequent connected judgments, all discrimination based on sex must be eliminated as of
17 May 1990 in the field of occupational and supplementary pensions.

However, for certain pension schemes, a difference in treatment is still permitted. This applies to capitalisation
schemes. In line with the Court(cid:146)s case law in cases C-152/91 Neath (2) (judgment of 22 December 1993) and
C-200/91  Coloroll (3)  (judgment  of  28  September  1994),  in  the  case  of  schemes  of  this  kind,  what  counts  in
respect of Article 119 of the EC Treaty is the employer(cid:146)s promise to pay a supplementary pension. If the promise
has as its objective a defined contribution (as in the case of defined-contribution schemes), what matters, for the
purposes of this Article, is that the contributions paid must be identical for men and women. As a result, the
ultimate benefits might be different for men and women because of women(cid:146)s longer life expectancy.

This  is  clearly  illustrated  in  Council  Directive  95/97/EC (4),  amending  Directive  86/378/EEC  on  the
implementation  of  the  principle  of  equal  treatment  for  men  and  women  in  occupational  social  security
schemes (4),  whose  objective  is  to  incorporate  the  Court(cid:146)s  case  law  in  the  Barber  judgment  and  connected
judgments.

(1)  ECR 1990, p. I-1889.
(2)  ECR 1993, p. I-6953.
(3)  ECR 1994, p. I-4389.
(4)  OJ L 46, 17.2.1997.

(98/C 354/196)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1754/98

by Anita Pollack (PSE) to the Commission

(5 June 1998)

Subject: Bihari people in Bangladesh

Now that an agreement has been reached in Islamabad to commence rehabilitation of the Bihari refugees from
Bangladesh, will the Commission help towards the estimated US$ 250 million cost of constructing the necessary
housing and other aspects of their rehabilitation and resettlement?

Answer given by Mr Marin on behalf of the Commission

(22 June 1998)

The Commission welcomed the agreement between the Pakistani and Bangladeshi Prime Ministers during the
three-nation economic summit on 15 January 1998 to solve the problem of the 238 000 Bihari refugees.

The Commission has also positively acknowledged the commitment of Pakistan to repatriate all the Biharis from
Bangladesh,  and  it  is  aware  of  the  economic  effort  that  Pakistan  has  made  to  achieve  this  objective.  The
government of Pakistan appealed to all citizens to contribute to this cause to collect the 227 MECU required for
the resettlement of the Biharis.

For the time being, the Pakistani government has not called for financial support from international organisations
and has not approached the Commission for any financial contribution to support its effort. It should also be
noted that the Bangladeshi side has not approached the international community for support.

The Commission, through its delegations in Islamabad and Dhaka, closely monitors the situation.