WRITTEN QUESTION E-1942/03 by Kyösti Virrankoski (ELDR) to the Commission. Opportunities for unemployed job-seekers in Finland to apply for jobs abroad.
Date: 2003-06-13
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU law - national law, Finland, free movement of persons, job application, social legislation, social-security harmonisation, unemployment insurance

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Official Journal of the European Union

EN

15.1.2004

I should be grateful if you would confirm that the winter fuel allowance should be payable to all UK
nationals who receive a UK pension although residing in another EU Member State.

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(2 July 2003)

Following lengthy discussion between the British authorities and the Commission, the United Kingdom has
agreed to pay winter fuel payments to people living in other Member States as long as they were in receipt
of such a payment before they left the United Kingdom.

It is important to recall that the Community legislation on social security, Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 (1),
only covers the ‘co-ordination’ of social security schemes for people who move around the Union. In no
way does it replace the national social security schemes, and it is entirely a matter for the Member States
to organise and finance their social security schemes as they see fit. Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 aims to
protect the social security rights of those who move, but in itself it does not give rights to benefits under
the national social security schemes. Entitlement to benefits is a matter for national law. In doing so the
Member States must of course abide by the basic principles of Community law, such as non-discrimination
on grounds of nationality, but there is no suggestion in this case that any such discrimination exists.

Now that the United Kingdom accepts that winter fuel payments do come within the scope of Regulation
(EEC) No 1408/71, for those who are entitled to it under British law, and who themselves come within the
personal scope of the Regulation, the payment will be ‘exportable’ to another Member State. However, for
those who were not entitled to it under national law, Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 cannot be used to
retroactively create an entitlement in respect of people who left the United Kingdom before the scheme
was set up in 1998.

The Commission’s understanding of winter fuel payments is that it is a non-contributory benefit, so the
number of years of National Insurance contributions is irrelevant. It is also not linked to tax, nor is it
means-tested. While it may seem like an addition to the state old age pension, legally this is not the case,
and entitlement to an old age pension is not a condition of entitlement, as is clear from the fact that men
aged 60 or above can claim before they are entitled to a retirement pension. To be entitled a person must
be aged over 60 and must have been resident in the United Kingdom on certain date (the ‘qualifying
week’).

United Kingdom nationals who satisfy the conditions under national law will be entitled to have a winter
fuel payment paid to them in whichever Member State they reside. However, for the reasons set out above,
not all pensioners will be so entitled, but this difference in treatment is not contrary to Community law.

(1) Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 of the Council of 14 June 1971 on the application of social security schemes to

employed persons and their families moving within the Community, OJ L 149, 5.7.1971.

(2004/C 11 E/267)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1942/03

by Kyösti Virrankoski (ELDR) to the Commission

(13 June 2003)

Subject: Opportunities for unemployed job-seekers in Finland to apply for jobs abroad

Under Finnish law and administrative practice, people are not entitled to unemployment benefit if they are
not available for employment because they are travelling abroad or for any comparable reason. If a person
wishes to retain his status as a job-seeker and his entitlement to social security benefits, he must inform
the employment exchange of his intention to travel in advance, and must not travel abroad for longer than
one week.

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In practice, Finnish law and administrative practice prevent unemployed people in Finland from seeking
work abroad. At the same time they significantly restrict citizens’ freedom of movement within the EU.
Nor can they be defended on the grounds that travel abroad makes it difficult to offer jobs to the people in
question, as nowadays it is easy to contact job-seekers, for example by mobile phone, anywhere in the EU
and even outside it.

Do such restrictions on citizens’ freedom of movement within the EU and their opportunities to seek work
accord with EU law?

What will the Commission do to guarantee unemployed job-seekers equal rights to seek employment in
other EU countries and to move in such countries?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(29 July 2003)

The Honourable Member raises a question on the application of Finnish law and administrative practice in
relation to unemployment benefits in situations where the unemployed person wishes to leave Finland for
a temporary stay abroad, e.g. for vacation, and retain the right to the benefit. The Honourable Member
questions the conformity of Finnish law and administrative practice with Community law for the right to
benefits in such situations.

Under Community law in the field of social security, there is no unified European social security system.
Each Member State is responsible for its own social security system and decides which benefits shall be
provided, the conditions for eligibility and the value of these benefits. There are, however, Community
provisions for the co-ordination of these systems in Council Regulations (EEC) Nos 1408/71 and 574/
72 (1), in order to ensure that migrant workers and members of their families do not lose their social
security protection when moving within the Community and also to ensure that the basic principles of
equality of treatment and non-discrimination are respected.

In accordance with the above, the conditions for eligibility to unemployment benefits, such as for example
being available for the labour market, are left to the discretion of the Member States to decide upon.
Therefore, the right to unemployment benefit in situations to which the Honourable Member draws
attention do not, in principle, fall under the remit of the Commission but is a matter to be resolved solely
under national Finnish legislation.

However, in Article 69 of Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 there are provisions which enable an unemployed
person, under certain conditions, to seek work in another Member State and, during that period, to retain
the right to unemployment benefits from the first Member State. During this search for work the benefits
are provided by the institution in the Member State to which the unemployed person has gone to seek
work. The institution in the first Member State is obliged to reimburse the institution which provided the
benefits, the amount of such benefits.

If the Honourable Member considers that Finland is not properly implementing the provisions of Article 69
of Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71, the Commission would invite him to submit more details directly to the
Directorate-General for Employment and Social Affairs so that it may examine them in the light of
Community law.

(1) Last consolidated version: Council Regulation (EC) No118/97 of 2 December 1996 amending and updating
Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 on the application of social security schemes to employed persons, to self-employed
persons and to members of their families moving within the Community and Regulation (EEC) No 574/72 laying
down the procedure for implementing Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71, OJ L 28, 30.1.1997.