WRITTEN QUESTION E-0764/02 by Ieke van den Burg (PSE)and Anne Van Lancker (PSE) to the Commission. Restriction on the right to export Belgian benefits under the half-time bridging pension scheme.
Date: 2002-03-18
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Belgium, early retirement, equal treatment, frontier worker, social legislation, unemployment insurance

6.3.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 52 E/17

to strengthen competition in that sector and is based on the assumption that increased competition will
lead to more effective price competition. It does not aim at the harmonisation of either final consumer
prices or pre-tax prices, but to the effective exercise by consumers of their right to take full advantage of
the Single Market.

Concerning vehicle taxation the Honourable Member is aware that there is little Community legislation (2),
or harmonisation in the area of vehicle taxation. Therefore, each Member State applies its national
legislation, which has to be in line with the general principles of the EC Treaty and in particular not to
give rise to border-crossing formalities in trade between Member States and respect the non discrimination
principle (Article 90 of the EC Treaty).

As a consequence, both vehicle tax bases and taxation levels, governed by national law, are very diversified.
Greece is currently applying a Registration tax, known as special vehicle consumption tax, which is among
the highest in the ten Member States of the Community applying such a tax.

The Commission is aware of these registration tax divergences and the problems they pose to free
movement of passenger cars within the internal market. The Commission is also considering options for
future action in the area of vehicle taxation and it intends to present a Communication on this issue
during the coming months, in order to launch a discussion, with Member States and other Community
Institutions. The Communication will address specific fiscal and environmental aspects of vehicle taxation,
including those relating to registration tax.

The Commission would also like to inform the Honourable Member that the Commission’s efforts
envisaging an approximation of vehicle taxation levels has proven very difficult to achieve in practice due
to the unanimity rule required for decisions on fiscal matters.

(1) Published in OJ C 67, 16.3.2002 with an invitation to submit comments not later than one month after the date of

the publication.

(2) Council Directive 83/182/EEC of 28 March 1983 on tax exemptions within the Community for certain means of
transport temporarily imported into one Member State from another, and 83/183/EEC of 28 March 1983 on tax
exemptions applicable to permanent imports from a Member State of the personal property of individuals, OJ L 105,
23.4.1983.

(2003/C 52 E/019)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0764/02

by Ieke van den Burg (PSE)
and Anne Van Lancker (PSE) to the Commission

(18 March 2002)

Subject: Restriction on the right to export Belgian benefits under the half-time bridging pension scheme

Belgian legislation governing the half-time bridging pension scheme (early retirement) provides the right to
a benefit consisting of a payment from the unemployment office (National Employment Service) and a
non-statutory top-up payment from the ‘sector funds’. Up to now the Belgian government has ruled that
frontier workers from neighbouring countries cannot claim this benefit because the bridging pension is
deemed to be an unemployment benefit and not a temporary unemployment benefit.

The Belgian government’s argument can be refuted on the following grounds:
(1) the recipient of a
bridging pension does not have to register as seeking employment and is not subject to the obligation to
apply for jobs and that it follows from the legal basis, as stated in Collective Agreement No 55, that all
payments under the bridging pension scheme are classed as social benefits in accordance with Article 7,
paragraph 2 and/or 4 of Regulation (EEC) 1612/68; (1) (2) if the payment is to be regarded as a benefit
under the unemployment system there is at least a question of
‘partial unemployment’, so that in
accordance with Article 71(1)(a)(i) of Regulation (EEC) 1408/71 (2) this benefit should be granted by the
Belgian authorities to frontier workers employed in Belgium in combination with the remaining Belgian
salary. The latter point is established in Judgment C-444/98 of the Court of Justice (De Laat/LISV).

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Official Journal of the European Union

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6.3.2003

What is the Commission’s opinion? Does the Commission take the view that benefits under the Belgian
half-time bridging pension scheme should, in accordance with Article 71(1)(a)(i) of Regulation (EEC) 1408/
71 or with Article 7(2) and (4) of Regulation (EEC) 1612/68, be granted to frontier workers from France,
the Netherlands, Germany and Luxembourg working in Belgium?

(1) OJ L 257, 19.10.1968, p. 2.
(2) OJ L 149, 5.7.1971, p. 2.

Answer given by Ms Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(13 May 2002)

The Honourable Members inquire as to the correctness of the Belgian authorities’ position whereby the
half-time bridging pension cannot be granted to frontier workers because it is considered to be a benefit
for wholly unemployed persons.

Pursuant to the Belgian legislation governing the half-time bridging pension scheme, the benefits provided
under the scheme consist, on the one hand, of a top-up payment to cover the reduction in work in
accordance with Collective Agreement No 55 and, on the other, of a lump-sum unemployment payment.

As regards frontier workers’ entitlement to unemployment benefits, Article 71(1)(a) of Regulation (EEC)
No 1408/71 (1) says:

(i) A frontier worker who is partially or intermittently unemployed in the undertaking which
employs him shall receive benefits in accordance with the provisions of the legislation of the
competent State as if he were residing in the territory of that State; these benefits shall be
provided by the competent institution.

(ii) A frontier worker who is wholly unemployed shall receive benefits in accordance with the
provisions of the legislation of the Member State in whose territory he resides as though he had
been subject to that legislation while last unemployed; these benefits shall be provided by the
institution of the place of residence at its own expense.

The Commission believes that partially unemployed persons are persons who retain links with a gainful
activity on whose basis they are already subject
the State of
employment, whereas wholly unemployed persons are persons who no longer have any link with the State
of employment (cf. judgment in the Laat case (cid:1) C-444/98 of 15 March 2001 (2)).

to the social security legislation of

Consequently, frontier workers employed in Belgium applying for the half-time bridging pension must, as
regards the unemployment payment, be considered to be partially unemployed persons and must therefore
receive unemployment benefits pursuant to Belgian legislation at the Belgian institution’s expense.

As for the top-up payment, the Commission believes that it is a social advantage within the meaning of
Article 7 of Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68 (3) and it must therefore be granted to frontier workers in the
same way as to national workers.

The Commission will be contacting the Belgian authorities to obtain further explanations about application
of the half-time bridging pension scheme to frontier workers and will inform the Honourable Members of
developments on this matter.

(1) Council 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, as amended by
Council Regulation (EC) No 118/97 of 2 December 1996, OJ L 28, 30.1.1997, and Council Regulation (EEC)
No 574/72 of 21 March 1972, OJ L 74, 27.3.1972.

(2) European Court Reports 2001 Page I-02229.
(3) Council Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68 of 15 October 1968 on freedom of movement for workers within the

Community.