WRITTEN QUESTION E-2804/00 by Karl von Wogau (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Failure to credit insured employment in another Member State for the purposes of unemployment benefit.
Date: 2000-09-04
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Community migration, EU Member State, EU national, Germany, approximation of laws, residence, social security, unemployment insurance

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18.4.2001

Council. Once these legislative acts are adopted the Commission will prepare further proposals to improve
the railways(cid:146) competitiveness on the transport market. In connection with this initiative the Commission
recognises that it may be necessary to improve the rights of the passengers. After careful study of the
present legal situation, appropriate proposals could be made in this respect.

(1) COM(1999) 616 final.

(2001/C 113 E/191)

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)

in particular Council Regulation (EEC) 1408/71 (1)
Community law in the field of social security,
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 Commun-
ity.

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)).
if she becomes fully unemployed, she could choose whether she wants to receive
In such a case,
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

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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 f(cid:252)r Arbeit [1992] ECR I-4341.

(2001/C 113 E/192)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2810/00

by Jeffrey Titford (EDD) to the Council

(6 September 2000)

Subject: Representation at the United Nations

Will the Council of Ministers please inform me whether the European Union has any plans to seek status
as a nation, or any other representative status, at the United Nations?

Will the Council of Ministers please inform me of the precise diplomatic status of any European Union
representatives at the United Nations?

Reply

(30 November 2000)

1.
Regarding the status of the European Union at the United Nations, the United Nations Charter
provides for member status for States only. Thus the fifteen Member States of the European Union are full
members of the United Nations. The European Union as such has no legal status within the United
Nations. The European Community, for its part, has observer status at the United Nations General
Assembly. It thus has a permanent invitation from the organisation to take part as an observer in the
sessions and proceedings of the General Assembly and has a permanent office at the Organisation(cid:146)s
Headquarters. It is represented there by the Presidency and the Commission.

2.
The Union is playing an increasing political role in the United Nations. Article 19 of the TEU
stipulates that Member States are to coordinate their action in international organisations and at
international conferences and to uphold common positions in such fora. In line with the provisions of
the Treaty on European Union, the Presidency and, within the limits of its powers, the Commission,
coordinate Member States(cid:146) positions. The Presidency presents the European Union(cid:146)s positions in the
various UN bodies and introduces an increasing number of initiatives on the Union(cid:146)s behalf. The European
Union is not proposing to seek membership status at the United Nations; indeed, the United Nations
Charter rules this out.

3.
Regarding the status of European Union representatives at the United Nations, Member States of the
European Union (cid:129) including of course the State holding the Presidency (cid:129) like all members of the United
Nations, are represented at
the United Nations by their permanent representatives. The European
Commission has a delegation in New York and the General Secretariat of the Council set up a Liaison
Office there in 1994. For practical and legal reasons in the United States, the delegation and the office (cid:129)
while representing separate entities housed in separate premises (cid:129) are currently accredited jointly with the
Organisation and the host country as the European Community.

Under the third paragraph of Article 1 of the Treaty on European Union, (cid:145)the Union shall be founded
4.
on the European Communities, supplemented by the policies and forms of cooperation established by this
Treaty(cid:146). Thus, following the entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty, the European Community informed
the United Nations Secretariat that it now forms part of the European Union established by the Treaty on
European Union.